Angel de mi Corazon
by Seething Pyro
Summary: Chapte 21 is up...it is the last chapter, so sad HEHE
1. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 1  
  
It's the summer of 2002-2003 and what am I doing? I'm roaming the streets, killing countless numbers of muggles. Not a bad career, really. I just can't get caught, because then I can't return to Hogwarts (hopefully) as Head Boy. Also, I'll never be able to tell the love of my life how I feel about her. There's one other thing I should say, the girl I love is muggle- born, and I've made fun of her since we met in our first year. But I really wasn't making fun of her, just her two best friends. I'm really screwed up right now, though, I'm supposed to make her fall in love with me, and we're supposed to have a child that will be "the heir." After she has the child, I'm supposed to kill her. I'm not going to be able to do any of this and my master will kill me if I don't. This year is going to be hell. ~ Draco Malfoy slammed his journal shut. It was 9:23 am, and he just got home to the Malfoy Manor after a long night of "work." He went to his bathroom to take a cold shower. "Why do I do this to people?" he wondered stepping into the cold water. "Why do I put innocent people and their families in so much pain? There really is no logical explanation, but it's the family business, and I'm destined to keep it going. NO QUESTIONS ASKED! But why can't I question father's authority? What the hell makes him so goddamn special? He's in the Dark Lord's inner circle, THAT'S WHAT! And I'm right there next to him!" He had a habit of talking to himself, then quickly coming up with answers. "Maybe I'm going crazy," he continued his thoughts. "No, I can't be, this is perfectly normal."  
  
He stepped out of the shower feeling a little more relaxed. Wrapping a black towel around his waist, he was going to comb his hair back, but realized he was just going to sleep on it anyway. His hair fell down over his cold, grey eyes. "This looks so much better. I'm doing my hair like this from now on."  
  
Back in his room, he threw on a pair of black, silk boxers, with his name in silver down the left side. He lay down and was about to close his eyes when he heard a tapping on his window. An owl was there, so Draco let it in. It dropped the letter into his hands and flew off. The letter was addressed to him.  
  
"This is it," he thought. He ripped open the envelope, roughly and began searching through all the papers: books, supplies, welcome, Hogsmeade. "Where is it?!" he almost yelled. Then, he saw the envelope shake, something wanted to come out. His hand reached for it, but something came flying out. It levitated in front of his face so he grabbed it and read:  
  
Dear Master Malfoy, We are pleased to inform you that for the 2002-2003 school year, you will be returning to Hogwarts as Head Boy. You will be taking on more difficult tasks If you are unwilling to accept this position, owl us and let us know. You will also be sharing a living quarters with Head Girl Hermione Granger. We are expecting you to try and get along. We are well aware of your differences, but please try to overcome those. This year, our Head Students are more important than ever. We will elaborate more on September 1st. Enjoy the rest of your summer.  
  
Sincerely, The Hogwarts Staff  
  
"YES!!" he screamed loudly. This wasn't only to the fact that he was Head Boy, but also to the fact that the love of his life was going to be Head Girl.  
  
He threw on baggy black pants, and a black t-shirt. Just as he was about to go show his mother, his door went flying open and his father drawled, "What's all the raucous up here?"  
  
"I'm sorry, Father. I was just a little excited about getting my letter stating that I am to be Head Boy this year."  
  
"Well, you didn't think anyone else would get that title, now, did you?" Lucius asked.  
  
"No, but Potter usually gets everything handed to him just because of who he is. Anyway, I just wanted to see it in writing, it means more to me."  
  
"Potter?! Potter?! You've got to be kidding! You have much better grades, and people respect you more than they respect him. Plus, you have a steady girlfriend, and he just has girls swooning over him because of a scar. He'll never know true love, like you."  
  
"I do not have a girlfriend! If you're talking about Pansy, that's a HELL NO! We have never gone out, and we never will! I HATE HER! She's the most annoying person I've ever met!"  
  
"You are going to marry her. Do you remember having this conversation years back? Yeah, that's right, I said you were getting married!"  
  
"Yeah I remember," Draco yelled back. "And I also remember telling you that it was never gunna happen! Why don't you stay outta my business and let me lead my own damn life without you fucking up my future?"  
  
Lucius grabbed Draco's left arm and yelled at him, "This is your future, you agreed to make it that way! It was your choice, not mine! Think about that!" With that he stormed out of the room leaving Draco looking down at the Dark Mark, which was branded into his left forearm.  
  
"I didn't make the decision," he thought. "That goddamn bastard who calls himself my father said I had to choose; Voldemort or Death. I chose Voldemort, but at this point, death seems so much better." All of a sudden he got an idea. He grabbed parchment and a quill and began writing:  
  
Dear Professor Dumbledore, I am having some serious issues with my father right now. Is there any way I can get to  
  
Hogwarts within the next week before he kills me? If there is, please let me know. I'm going to Diagon Alley today to buy all of my supplies. Please let me know as soon as possible. Thank you.  
  
Sincerely, Draco Malfoy P.S. I accept the position of Head Boy for the coming school year.  
  
He called for his Eagle Owl, and sent the letter. Then, he grabbed his cloak and headed for Diagon Alley. When he got there, he went to Gringotts to stack up on gold, then bought all his supplies. He was heading home when he realized that he needed new robes, so he went to Madame Malkin's.  
  
"Hogwarts, dear?" asked Madame Malkin when Draco walked in. He nodded and she said, "Right this way, there's a young girl getting her robes done too."  
  
"Oh, great. It better not be someone I know, I'm not in the mood to talk," he thought.  
  
Once they were through to the back, he saw Hermione Granger getting her measurements taken. She looked over at him. "Mudblood," he acknowledged.  
  
"Ferret Boy," she answered. "I'm slightly surprised that you're Head Boy," she said after a minute.  
  
"Why? I have the second best marks in the grade. Only second to you of course."  
  
"Yeah, well I was just not expecting you to actually do anything. I just thought you were another lazy Slytherin." Her robes were getting hemmed now and his measurements were about half done.  
  
"Lazy? I am not lazy. I never have been, and I never will be. Don't you dare talk to me like that again you Mudblood bitch!"  
  
"God, Ferret Boy! I was just making a statement. I never said you, in particular was lazy, I was talking in general. You hafta lighten up a little."  
  
"And you hafta start minding your own fucking business." His robes were being hemmed and Hermione's were finished.  
  
"I can see that this is gunna be a fun year with you, Malfoy." She stalked off and paid for her robes.  
  
He mentally slapped himself. "You asshole! You just had another fight with her. Don't you ever leave your mouth shut? Go find her and apologize. No, I can't apologize," he contradicted himself while paying for his robes. "I'm not supposed to be nice. I'm a Malfoy. But what the hell does that mean? That's my excuse for everything, and it makes no sense at all." He walked outside into the sunlight and noticed something on the floor.  
  
It was a silver ring with a lion on one side and a snake on the other. In the middle was a blue stone. It was very pretty. Draco put it on and all of a sudden, he saw himself and Hermione, they were at an altar, apparently getting married. Very few people were there. Just as they were about to leave, a circle of Death Eaters surrounded them. Then he heard a voice, it was Voldemort's, "Avanda Kedavra!" There was a flash of green light, then everything went back to normal. Quickly, he pulled off the ring and put it in his pocket to look at more carefully later. ~ Back at Malfoy Manor, there was an owl waiting on Draco's bed. It was his. Why was it back already? Draco looked at the note around its leg, it was loopy handwriting, he recognized it as Dumbledore's. He opened it up and began reading:  
  
Dear Draco, If you can find a form Of transportation, you are Welcome to stay at Hogwarts for The remaining month of vacation. When you show up, come straight to My office. The new password is "candy apple." I hope all goes well and you make it here okay.  
  
Sincerely, Professor Dumbledore  
  
"Thank God!" he mumbled. He turned to his owl and said, "You fly to Hogwarts and wait on the owlery. I'll come get you when I arrive." His owl clicked its beak, then flew out the window.  
  
Draco packed all his stuff in his trunk the put everything on his broom and started flying toward the castle. He had done this before, so he knew exactly where he was going.  
  
The sun was setting and Draco had gotten no sleep at all. His eyes were drooping, but he refused to go to sleep until he reached the castle. ~ Two hours later, the castle was visible. "Only a little farther then I can eat and sleep." He pushed himself and sped up a little. Finally, he landed on the stone steps and opened the big oak doors. Dragging his trunk, he reached the gargoyle and gave it the password. He climbed the magical steps and knocked on Dumbledore's door.  
  
"Come in, Draco," came Dumbledore's voice.  
  
"Thank you so much for letting me stay here. It means a great deal to me."  
  
"It's no trouble, really. You may leave your things here, I'll have a house elf bring it to your room. Follow me and I'll show you where Hermione and yourself will be sharing a living quarters."  
  
"Thank you," Draco said again.  
  
Silently, Draco followed Dumbledore up staircases and down corridors until they reached a portrait of a meadow. It had a diagonal line across it and on one side it was night and Draco was standing there, looking up at the stars. On the other side, it was day and Hermione was sitting with her head on her knees. Draco was bamboozled, but decided not to say anything. "Choose a password," instructed Dumbledore, eyes twinkling.  
  
"How about, 'darkness is forever'?" he suggested.  
  
"That's fine by me."  
  
The portrait opened, and Dumbledore went back to his office.  
  
The common room was much warmer than the Slytherin common room. There was a fire blazing in the fireplace and the hangings were red and black. There were couches, love seats, and chairs. The tables were made out of glass. All in all it was very nice.  
  
He walked up the stairs and found two doors, one on the right and one on the left. The door on t he left was red and said 'Ms Granger' in gold. The door on the right was black and in silver said 'Mr. Malfoy." Draco went into his room. The walls were green and the curtains and hangings were black. He had a king-size bed with black drapes and sheets. There was a walk-in closet and a full-length, talking mirror.  
  
Soon, he noticed another door, and opened it. It was a huge bathroom.  
  
"This is nice," he thought. "I have this whole place to myself for a month."  
  
Draco went back into his room, stripped down to their boxers, and climbed into bed. He fell into a dreamless sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. ~ The next morning, he woke up to an owl at his window. He remembered the owlery and his owl and decided he'd go up after he brushed his teeth. He opened the window and let the owl in and took the-  
  
"HOWLER!"  
  
It said:  
  
"DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY! WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU RUN TO? YOU HAD BETTER TELL ME BEFORE I COME AND FIND YOU! I DON'T CARE HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO BE DOING FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! YOU FIRST LOYALTY IS TO ME AND THEN TO YOU-KNOW-WHO! DON'T YOU BE TALKING TO THAT CRACK-POT OLD FOOL, DUMBLEDORE! UNDERSTAND? YOU HAD BETTER REMEMBER HOW I RAISED YOU! I RAISED YOU TO BE A MALFOY, SO BE ONE!"  
  
After that, it exploded. Draco grabbed a piece of parchment and began:  
  
Lucius, Dad, whatever you call yourself, I am at Hogwarts. No, Dumbledore does not know Anything. I just needed my own space to get stuff done. I'm not sorry for not telling you, it's not like I would've Listened to what you said. Yes, by the way, I did learn Something from being a Malfoy, and that is, I take orders From one person, me. I'm also perfectly content with my job For the time being. I really don't mind killing muggles, I Would just prefer to have a motive. I also don't like taking Orders from people besides me. No offense to you or You- Know-Who. I just needed time to do my work and not to Worry about anything else. Don't send me anymore goddamn Howlers either, they're so inconvenient. Oh yeah, I'm staying At Hogwarts for all holidays, I'm going to have Head Boy Duties. Draco  
  
He went up to the owlery to send the note. He found his faithful eagle owl and fed him before sending him off. When he was finished, he went down to the Great Hall to eat breakfast. There weren't many teachers there, but the ones who were greeted him warmly.  
  
Even though it was summer, Draco wore shirts and robes that covered up his arms. He couldn't let anyone know what he really was. After breakfast, Draco walked outside and just sat, staring out at the lake. He had absolutely nothing to do because he had finished his homework earlier in the summer. ~ Finally, it was a week before the start of term, and he was sitting in the common room reading. All of a sudden the portrait swung open and there stood Hermione Granger.  
  
"Granger!" exclaimed a shocked Draco. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"My parents," she started. Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. "They're dead. You-Know-Who killed them." Tears streamed down her face. 


	2. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 2  
  
"I'm so sorry." He really was, that wasn't part of any plan. He reached out to bring her to him, but she raced away to her room. "I have to do it," he thought, and ran down to the kitchens.  
  
Once he got there, he walked over to one of the house elves and said, "I need a knife. A sharp one and fast."  
  
"Sir, is you going to harm yourself, sir?" he piped up.  
  
"NO! I just need to-well-never mind. I just need it, okay?"  
  
The house elf brought the knife out to him. He ran back up to the common room, and into his dorm. He rolled up his left sleeve and placed the knife on his bare skin. Not caring if it would hurt, he dug the knife into his skin and began cutting the Dark Mark out of his arm.  
  
Ten minutes later, it was gone, and his arm was bleeding like crazy. He grabbed his wand, and did a spell to re-grow the skin. Suddenly, the layers started to form and his arm looked just like it did before he received the Dark Mark. After his skin grew back, he did a cleaning spell to clean where all the blood was.  
  
Not being the sympathetic type, Draco didn't exactly know what to say to Hermione, but decided to take a stab at it anyway. Slowly, and nervously, he made his way to Hermione's room. He knocked lightly, and when there was no answer, he knocked again.  
  
"Go away!" came a small, quivering voice.  
  
"No. Let me in, Granger."  
  
"Why? So you can do what you always do, call me a stupid, pathetic Mudblood, and make me feel like shit?"  
  
"No, I wanna help you," he said quietly.  
  
"I don't want your help Ferret Boy! What would you know about sympathy? You're a rich, stuck-up, pure-blood, snob! I don't need or want your help, so leave me the fuck alone!"  
  
"Listen, Granger, I don't care what you think, but I can help you. I know what you're going through I've lost people who were close to me. Right now, you need a friend, and I'm willing to be your shoulder to cry on, but if you don't want me to be there, then fine I won't be. Don't be begging for me to help you later! I probably won't!"  
  
He stalked off to his room, and thought, "I'll be there whenever she needs me. She's one girl I'll always be willing to help out."  
  
That night, he didn't sleep well. Partly because if he had stayed home, he might have helped with those murders.  
  
By the time he woke up, he was feeling a little more refreshed, but really wanted to take a shower. He opened the door to the bathroom, and sitting there in the tub, with bubbles surrounding her was Hermione.  
  
"What are you doing, Malfoy?" she screeched, putting her arms over her already covered chest. "Are you spying on me, you sick, perverted asshole?!"  
  
He closed his door than said through it, "No, Granger, I'm not, I just wanted to take a shower."  
  
"Well, next time knock, Ferret Boy. There's someone else who has to use this bathroom now."  
  
"Well, Mudblood, firstly, I don't take orders, especially not from you. Second, I do whatever the hell I want whenever the hell I want and you can't stop me from doing so."  
  
After saying that, he immediately regretted it. "Asshole!" he silently cursed himself, but the remainder of his thoughts were cut off by her sobs.  
  
"Look, Granger, I didn't really mean that. It just kinda slipped, you know outta habit. I really don't wanna be like this anymore, but I'm really gunna need your help. Okay?"  
  
More sobs, then, "You will never change, Malfoy. You will always just be the same pick ass mother fucker that I met in my first year here!"  
  
"Granger, look I can help you, and you can help me. Won't you just open your eyes and look around?"  
  
There was silence through the door. She was obviously thinking long and hard about her response. After a long minute, she answered, "I'll be polite to you for the rest of this year, but only because we'll be spending a lot of time together for the rest of the year. I promise not to curse at you or call you Ferret Boy, as long as you don't call me Mudblood. Agreed?"  
  
"Yes, now can I please take a shower? I feel so dirty," he begged her.  
  
"Alright, but you don't look at me in the bath, and I don't look at you in the shower. K?"  
  
Draco grabbed what he needed for the shower and went into the bathroom. He walked right into the shower without even stealing a glance at Hermione, just as he promised.  
  
Once he was in the shower, he took off his robe and hung it outside the stall and turned on the water.  
  
"This isn't always gunna happen like this, you know?" he yelled over the running water.  
  
"What's not?" she asked  
  
"You're not always getting the bath. I gotta relax sometimes too."  
  
"Oh yeah? Well, that's not what I was thinking, Mr. Malfoy. I was thinking that it was gunna happen like this every morning. I'm gunna wake up before you have a chance to claim the bath, then make you beg to use the shower."  
  
"Well, Ms Granger that just doesn't sound fair on my end. I think I should make you beg for the use of the shower." Draco was just about finished with his shower. It never took him more than ten minutes to feel totally refreshed.  
  
"And why would you do that," she asked.  
  
"Oh, just for my own sick, twisted pleasure. He smirked that famous smirk, wrapped a black towel around his waist and stepped out of the shower.  
  
Hermione was about to say something, but when he came out, she totally forgot what they were talking about. All she could do was stare at Draco and think about how damn sexy he looked just then.  
  
"What's the matter, Granger? You like what you see?"  
  
"Well-uh no-umm-I-I-well-I-yeah."  
  
His smirk became wider and he shook his head. "Watch your bubbles, Granger. You wouldn't want to-expose anything, now would you?"  
  
She began fixing the bubbles even though they hadn't even moved, then glared at him as he went into his room.  
  
Draco put on just boxers, and a pair of long, black shorts. He didn't bother with socks or a shirt. It was just too damn hot in his opinion. His mind was still in a mix while he began fixing his hair. "Why was she looking at me like that? Could she possibly like me too? What if she does? Should I ask her out? No way, asshole, she'll never feel the same way about you. Don't even bother."  
  
He walked into the bathroom to hand up his towel. Hermione was standing there in her Gyffindor robe with her back to him. She was drying her hair. When she heard the door open, she turned around to face him. Obviously, Draco hadn't meant to intrude on anything, but he just stood there watching her. Their eyes locked for a few seconds, and he felt energy such as he had never felt before. He felt that he could have just stood there all day staring into her deep, brown eyes. It was Hermione who broke the contact. Blushing furiously, she turned away into her room.  
  
"That was odd," he thought hanging up his towel. "I gotta go write."  
  
** I don't know what's going on. I'm sitting in the common room reading, when Hermione turns up saying that Voldemort killed her parents. So I start thinking, what if I was there, I would've helped. I started to feel guilty and cut the Dark Mark out if my arm. I repaired it to make it appear that nothing was never there. If Voldemort finds out, I'm done for. He'll kill me without a second thought. Hermione decided that she doesn't want to fight with me, so I willingly agreed with her. We actually mad eye contact this morning. I just stood there, looking into her big, beautiful eyes. I didn't move to do anything else. It was like there was some invisible fore holding me back. I was frozen there, like a zombie or something. I got to start sorting things out before they get bad. **  
  
When he hid his journal, he yelled, "Granger!"  
  
"What?" came the muffled reply from her room.  
  
"I'm going down to breakfast, wanna come?"  
  
"Yeah. Just gimme five minutes. K?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
Draco sat waiting for her in the common room, his thoughts still running rampant. "Just because I like her doesn't mean I hafta befriend Potthead and Weasel, right? Or would she make us get along? Or will they start fighting? Or will she totally ignore me when they get here? Or is she going out with one of them already? No, I think she mighta said something already, maybe. Maybe she likes me, I mean the way she was looking at me before. What if she's just trying to get over her parents, then what do I do?"  
  
He didn't have anymore time to think because she came down and was standing right in front of him. "Ready?" she asked.  
  
"Huh? Oh yeah." He suddenly remembered, "Hold on. Accio!" A shirt, socks, and shoes came flying down to him.  
  
"Now, why didn't you do that while you were waiting?" she questioned impatiently.  
  
"Um-well-I was-uh-busy thinking," he muttered as he finished dressing. Not waiting for a response, he headed out the portrait.  
  
"Ok," she answered.  
  
They walked silently down t breakfast, each thinking about the other. When they walked into the Great Hall, Dumbledore greeted him warmly. "Hello Ms Granger, Mr. Malfoy. Nice of you to join us. Today, after breakfast, I would like you to come with me to my office. Since you are both here early, we might as well get down to business early."  
  
Draco looked at Hermione as she sat down next to him. She looked back, but didn't say anything, just nodded to Dumbledore, and said, "Okay."  
  
Dumbledore spoke again, but all he said was, "Let's eat!" The breakfast appeared on the table, and they all began to eat. Not much talking went on, just a long awkward silence all around.  
  
Once everyone had finished, Dumbledore beckoned Hermione and Draco to follow him into his office. More silence followed. Finally, Hermione spoke up, "Why are we needed more than ever this year than ever before, Professor?"  
  
"Ah, you will find out soon enough. Lemon Meringue Pie." They had reached the gargoyle and were now ascending the spiral staircase.  
  
Draco looked around and saw Fawkes sitting on his perch, looking young and beautiful. Nothing had changed since the previous year, when he was in there because of death threats from his father. Some of these threats came near to reality and Draco was forced to become a Death Eater.  
  
"Sit please," said Dumbledore. "We are here to discuss some of the important duties you will be taking on this year as Head Boy and Girl. You are expected to be model students, someone that the younger students will look up to. You are also going to plan the Halloween, Christmas, and Valentines dances. You will be expected to check the halls to make sure no one is where they're not supposed to be; out after hours, and such." His bright smile turned quickly into a frown and the twinkle left his eye. Both Draco and Hermione knew what he said next would be very serious. "This year, you will also have another job that no Head Student has ever had. You are the brightest students this school as seen in a number of years. We, myself and the staff, feel that you are up to the task. It will be your job to take down Voldemort."  
  
All of a sudden Draco looked very shocked, and Hermione was gaping. "How- we-he has power-uh-he'll kill us," Hermione stumbled.  
  
"Hermione, we are going to train you in how to defend yourselves against him. By the time you fight him, you will be well trained. Why don't you go up to the common room? I must talk to Draco in private for a while."  
  
She nodded her head and headed back still shaking.  
  
He turned to Draco and said, "I know about you being in a league with Voldemort, but we really need you turn. You and Hermione are our only hope."  
  
"Professor," Draco started. "There's something you don't know."  
  
Dumbledore looked confused. Draco turned his left arm over and showed him his Dark Mark free arm. "Well, Draco, I have to say, I am impressed. Your father, does he know?"  
  
"I can't tell him and I don't wanna tell Granger that I was a Death Eater for a greater part of the summer. It'd kill her. And if my father knew I took the Dark Mark off, he'd kill me."  
  
Dumbledore pondered his answer for a moment before answering. "You don't have to make your choice now, but you might eventually want to release your secret."  
  
"I'll think about it, Professor," Draco said as he left.  
  
"Yeah right," he thought once he was in the hall. "I'm never telling them, they'd kill me. I wanna stay as far away from my father as possible, and I want Hermione to trust me. She'll never trust me if she knew I was a Death Eater."  
  
"Darkness is Forever." He reached the common room and saw Hermione on the couch looking very upset.  
  
"What's wrong, Granger?"  
  
"We'll never be able to do this, You-Know-Who is much too powerful. Two seventeen year olds aren't going to bring down the most powerful wizard of the age."  
  
"Yeah, but we're some of the smartest wizards of our time. We'll be able to kill him. Think about it, you're the smartest in the school, and I'm a close second, we can do it. Plus, I learned some dark magic from my father. We're unstoppable, Granger, think about it. He won't kill us, trust me. He's not after us."  
  
"Yeah, but to him I'm just a lowly Mudblood. I'm the people he kills. He wants me dead."  
  
"Not you, its Potter, Potter is who he wants. He's not gunna kill you, but we're gunna have to save Potter, for your sake."  
  
"You-a Malfoy is gunna save Harry Potter? HA I laugh!"  
  
"I'll do it for your sake, but I won't do it alone. I need your help. Are you gunna help to save your Precious Potthead, or are you gunna lay back and let him die? If it wasn't for him being your best friend, I'd let him die, hell, I'd hand him over, but since he means that much to you, I'll save him. Now, Granger, are you gunna help or not?"  
  
"I'll help you, Malfoy. But I gotta know something. How come you're being so nice to me? Why aren't you being like you usually are?"  
  
"Well," he contemplated his answer. "We have to live together all year, I just thought we might not want to be at each other's throats. We should try and get along."  
  
"You know, Malfoy, I don't really hate you. I do see something else besides coldness when I look into your eyes. You're not all bad-ass as you first appear."  
  
"And how long did it take you to see that?"  
  
"Almost seven years," she blushed and turned away. "I thought you were a real asshole up until this morning."  
  
"Well, thanks, most people never see that there's more to me than hate. I think you're the second person to figure that out."  
  
"Really? Who's the first?" she questioned.  
  
"Dumbledore," he answered calmly. "That man knows the real me. He knows most of my life."  
  
"Is that a good thing? I mean is it good to have someone know so much about you?" she was expecting him to go crazy on her, but he remained calm.  
  
"Having Dumbledore knowing is definitely a good thing. No one else would understand."  
  
"What about me?"  
  
"Maybe I'll tell you some other time. I just can't tell you right now. I gotta go to my room. I have some work to do."  
  
Hermione stared after him, not really sure of what to do. She figured it best to let him go without saying anything.  
  
"I have to tell her," he thought once he was in his room. "She has to know. I should write to Cephius, he'll know what to do."  
  
Cephius was a friend of Draco's, who lived in the U.S. They had met at a wizard convention in France two years earlier. They instantly became friends, even though Cephius wasn't into the Dark Arts, there was something Draco had liked about him. He grabbed a quill and a piece of parchment and began:  
  
Hey Cephius, Sorry I haven't written in a while, but you Know about the whole thing with my father and You-Know-Who. How are things in the states? I'm not doing so great over hear. You know about that muggle girl who I told You about who I'm like totally in love with? Well, It turns out that she's Head Girl and I'm Head Boy. We're sharing a living quarters for the whole Year. Remember when I told you at the beginning Of the summer when my dad made me become a  
  
Death Eater? Well, I cut the Dark Mark out of My arm because I hate that guy. Dumbledore reckons I should tell Hermione The truth, but I can't. She might not trust me, And I want her to be able to trust me. What do You think I should do? I'm so scared of what She might say or do to me. Please help me.  
  
Thanks, Draco "That should do it," he thought. He called his owl, tied the letter around his leg, then sent it off. Laying down on his bed, he looked up at the canopy and closed his eyes. The first image that popped into his mind was of Hermione.  
  
There was still a while before lunch and he didn't feel like talking to anyone. He grabbed his Nimbus Two Thousand and One and hurried off to the Quidditch field. Once he got there, he kicked off the ground and soared high into the air. The wind was blowing against his face and blowing through his hair. He could hear it whistling in his ears. This is where he belonged, and he knew it.  
  
After flying around for a little while, he began diving and practicing move he'd seen professional Quidditch Seekers use. "I'm going to lead Slytherin to win the Quidditch Cup this year. There's no way Potter will beat me, not this year!" He was determined to beat Harry Potter in his final year at Hogwarts.  
  
At about one, Draco got tired and headed back up to the common room. When he arrived, Hermione was reading on the couch. Without looking up, she asked, "Where'd you go? You missed lunch."  
  
"What does it matter to you? You wouldn't care. Besides, you're rooting for Gyffindor anyway," he said coolly.  
  
Finally, she looked up. "Oh, Quidditch. Well, there's something you should know, then. I happen to think that you're a much better Seeker than Harry."  
  
"Really?" he smirked.  
  
"Yeah, you seem to know what you're doing better than he does. The only thing going in his favor is his Firebolt. He's got more speed than he does talent."  
  
"So, you're saying I have talent?"  
  
"Yeah, of course you do. You're the most talented Seeker-probably the most talented Quidditch player in the school."  
  
"Thanks, Granger."  
  
She smiled at him, and he smiled back. It was the first real smile she's ever seen him wear. 


	3. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 3  
  
September 1 came quickly. Before he knew it, Draco was in the Great Hall with the rest of the Slytherins. Crabbe and Goyle were on one side of him, and Pansy Parkinson was on the other.  
  
"Drakey, hunny, you want me to come to your dorm after the feast. I know it must be terrible living with the Mudblood," Pansy wailed.  
  
"Pansy, I never liked you and I never will. I will never hug you and I would never dream of kissing you. I hate you. I hate the way you're always around me, holding on to me, and I despise when you call me Drakey. And don't ever let me hear you call Granger a Mudblood again!"  
  
By now, most of the Great Hall was staring at Draco and Pansy. His cheeks turned pink because he hadn't meant for everyone to hear him. "Go back to your food."  
  
After saying this, he stormed out of the Great Hall.  
  
Hermione looked around at Harry and Ron. "I've gotta go," she said.  
  
"Why?" said Ron. "You gunna go comfort Ferret Boy?"  
  
"Don't call him that!" she snapped as she stood up.  
  
"Hermione, you alright?" asked Harry.  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
She hurried out the Great Hall to find Draco.  
  
Draco went out the oak doors and onto the grounds. He stood, staring out at the lake and watching the giant squid dance across it.  
  
"Draco?" came a voice  
  
He whirled around and saw Hermione. "What?" Then he turned to face the lake a gain.  
  
"I-uh-well-I wanted to thank you for-well sticking up for me."  
  
"It was nothing. I just figured if I can't call you that, than no one can."  
  
"If it makes you feel any better, I told off Ron for calling you what I said I wouldn't."  
  
He just nodded, then turned to face her. "Did you just call me Draco?"  
  
"Um," she blushed a deep shade of red. "Well, yeah."  
  
He smiled, then said, "Thanks, Hermione."  
  
Draco pulled Hermione into a hug, and they just stood there for a while, totally oblivious to the world.  
  
"Let's go back in," suggested Draco. "The feast is probably almost over. And they need to announce Head Boy and Girl. They can't do that without us." He smirked and Hermione smiled as they headed toward the Great Hall.  
  
Dumbledore looked up when they walked in. "And our new Head Boy and Girl.Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger."  
  
The students and teachers broke into applause as Draco and Hermione sat in their seats. Draco watched Hermione as she sat between Harry and Ron. She was blushing furiously, but neither Harry nor Ron were smiling or clapping.  
  
He continued watching as they started hissing something to her. Her face lost all color and she looked like she was going to cry.  
  
It angered Draco to see Hermione so upset. He got up and walked over to the Gryffindor table. "What the hell are you saying to her?" he yelled at Harry and Ron.  
  
"That's none of your damn business, Malfoy," answered Ron.  
  
"Yeah, so get the hell outta here you slimy git, before I make you," threatened Harry.  
  
"How will you make me, you scrawny piece of shit? I would stay away from Hermione if you don't wanna get your asses kicked. "You hurt her and I swear to God-" Draco broke off, then said to Hermione, "Come on, let's go."  
  
She willingly got up and followed him back to their common room. They walked most of the way in silence before Draco asked, "What did those assholes say to you?"  
  
"They said that they didn't want me hanging around you. And I told them I had to because we're Head Boy and Head Girl. Then they said-Darkness is Forever-they said that you're bad news and if I start hanging out with you, I'd be just like you. Then I said that you'd changed, and they said that someone like you can't change and you're just 'a stupid mother fucker who's using me.' I told them that you weren't and that you were actually pretty nice when you wanted to be. They said, 'Malfoy's wouldn't know what nice was if it kicked them up the ass.' That's when you came over and saved me."  
  
They were sitting on a couch and Draco had his arm around her. "Don't listen to them. Friends like that aren't real friends. You have to make your own decisions, they can't make them for you," he said.  
  
"We've had fights before," she continued, "but they were never over who I could be friends with. I hate when they team up. And it's always them versus me. I hate it! Sometimes I hate them!"  
  
"I know you don't hate them, that's my job, not yours." Draco smirked.  
  
This brought a smile to her face. "You're right. I don't hate them, I'm just mad at them."  
  
"I get mad at my friends all the time, it's not illegal. I know they'll get over it. You guys are never mad at each other for very long, right? The golden trio will be back before you know it."  
  
"Right. I hope they come to their senses. Sometimes they're so dense."  
  
"Sometimes?" Draco snorted.  
  
Hermione play punched him in the arm. "I'm going to bed. G'night, Draco."  
  
"'Night, Hermione."  
  
Draco walked slowly up to his room, found his journal and began writing.  
  
** Everyone came back to Hogwarts today. At the feast, I finally told Pansy to leave me alone because I hate her. Potthead and Weasel yelled at Hermione today because she followed me out of the Great Hall, so I yelled at them a little and then took her back to the common room. She told me what happened, and I told her not to hate them because they've been friends for so long, and she agreed. I'm pretty pleased with myself because I made her smile when she was sad. She actually called me Draco today, and I called her Hermione. It's kinda weird though because I never thought I'd actually hear her say my name, but it did feel good to be called by my real name. **  
  
Draco hid his journal and changed into his pajamas, then fell asleep with pictures of Hermione in his mind. ~ The next morning, he took a shower, got dressed, and started reading even before Hermione woke up. He heard the shower go on, and knew she was running late otherwise she would have used the bath.  
  
When Hermione came into the common room, Draco greeted her. "Good morning Hermione. Feeling better?"  
  
"Good morning Draco. I'm feeling much better, thanks. Wanna go down to breakfast?" "Of course. Hey, did you get the new schedules yet?"  
  
They walked out of the portrait.  
  
"Nope, have you?"  
  
"No. I wanna know how many classes we have together though."  
  
"Me too. I hope we have most together. I'm not gunna be able to stand dealing with Harry and Ron without you there to help me. I actually think they're scared of you sometimes."  
  
"Really?" he asked, slightly shocked.  
  
"Well yeah. They talk about beating the crap out of you, but they would never do it. They both know that you're much stronger than they are."  
  
By now they had entered the Great Hall along with the rest of the school. The schedules were handed to the students. First, Draco had Care of Magical Creatures with Gryffindor. Then he had Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, lunch was after, then double Potions with Gryffindor.  
  
"Well, two out of three isn't bad," he thought.  
  
When he finished eating, Draco left the Great Hall and walked down to Hagrid's hut. Crabbe and Goyle followed him, but not too closely because they thought that he'd been acting weird.  
  
When he got there, he saw two crates filled with a bunch of hairy puff balls. "What the hell are those?" Draco asked in his usual drawl.  
  
"Kellyfiggles!" boomed Hagrid, who was smiling brightly at Harry and Ron. Draco saw him look at Harry and Ron, then at Hermione who was standing off by herself, but he continued talking. "These are real useful. They can find people who are untrustworthy at the time. They'll roll around and stop at your feet. Here I'll show you." He dumped over the two crates and about 25 fluff balls came rolling out. They started rolling all over and stopping at people's feet.  
  
Hermione was standing off by herself, and one of the Kellyfiggles rolled over and stopped at her feet. Draco was too busy staring at Hermione to notice the one that had stopped at his own feet.  
  
They were both just staring at each other. Neither of them heard what was going on around them. Everyone else was lying and playing tricks on each other to try and get one of them to stop by them. Draco and Hermione weren't laughing and or joking around, they were just staring.  
  
They didn't notice everyone was picking up the Kellyfiggles and putting them back in the crates.  
  
"Hermione! Draco!" boomed Hagrid. They both snapped out of their trances and turned toward Hagrid. "Put your Kellyfiggles back in the crates, the bell's about to ring."  
  
When the bell rang, Draco watched Hermione walk back to the school talking to Parvati and Lavender.  
  
"Hey, Draco, what's wrong with you?" Crabbe asked.  
  
"Nothing," he snapped. "I'm fine!"  
  
"Well, you don't seem fine," said Goyle. "You told Pansy to fuck off, basically, and you didn't say anything during Care of Magical Creatures. All you did was stare at Mudblood."  
  
Draco grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. Goyle winced in pain. "Don't you dare call Hermione Granger Mudblood again if you don't wanna die!"  
  
Goyle nodded dumbly and Draco let go. The Slytherins all looked at him. "That goes for all of you! No one calls her Mudblood."  
  
They all nodded their heads and headed for the greenhouse. When they entered and were waiting for the Hufflepuffs, Blaise Zabini walked over to Draco and said, "Do you need to talk?"  
  
"No. Why would I need to talk to anyone?" he answered.  
  
"Well, you seem more tense and stressed since I saw you last year. Did something happen over the summer?"  
  
"A lot happened over the summer, and I don't care to talk about it. I don't see why everybody in the goddamn House seems to have a problem with me this year. We've been back less than a day and already everyone thinks I've gone mad, or something."  
  
"Well, with the way you've been acting toward Granger, we have a right to think you've gone mad," she said coldly.  
  
Draco looked into her bright blue eyes and noticed that they had been just as cold as his once were. "Yeah, so me and Granger get along, I don't see any problem. I'll be living with her for the remainder of the year. I wanna be on good terms with someone in this damn school before I leave. Why not Granger?"  
  
The Hufflepuffs were filing into the greenhouse and Blaise said, "Listen, Draco, I've known you my whole life, we've been friends since we were babies. You have always been able to talk to me. I've kept some of your deepest secrets, but right now, there are some things that you're just not telling me. If you ever need to talk, you know where to find me."  
  
"Thanks, Blaise. I'll keep that in mind," Draco answered.  
  
She nodded and Professor Sprout began to speak. Draco hated Herbology, and it always seemed to go by so slow. When the bell finally rang, he was the first out the door and into the castle.  
  
He hid behind a tapestry near the Great Hall. When Hermione came by, he grabbed her and put one hand over her mouth so she couldn't scream, the other he put around her waist so she couldn't go anywhere. "Shh, it's me," he whispered into her hair.  
  
He took his hands off her and she said, "All the Gryffindors were bugging me last period. They are all saying that I'm not telling them something, and they're saying I should because Gryffindors are honest. I don't feel like telling them anything though, and they're really pissing me off, especially Harry and Ron."  
  
"I'm getting the same thing. Everyone wants me to tell them what's going on, and they're saying that I'm mad."  
  
"God, why can't they just accept the fact that we-" but she couldn't finish the sentence because Draco's lips were on top of her's. She responded to the kiss and it deepened.  
  
After a few seconds though, Draco broke away and mumbled, "Sorry."  
  
He walked away and Hermione called after him, "Draco, wait!" But he didn't listen, just kept on walking. 


	4. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 4  
  
Draco went back to his dorm instead of going to the Great Hall to eat lunch. He noticed that his owl had come back. The note from Cephius read:  
  
Hey Draco, It's good to hear from you. Sorry about your father, dude, That sucks. Anyway, about telling Hermione the truth, you definitely Should. You want her to trust you, Right? Well, to gain that trust, you Have to tell her the truth. I wouldn't Be to keen on telling your father yet. He'll probably go psycho on you or Something. Good luck with the girl. Tell me how everything goes.  
  
Your friend, Cephius  
  
"Okay," Draco thought. "I'll do it. I'm gunna do it tonight."  
  
He headed down to the dungeons for Potions. When he got there, he heard voices arguing.  
  
"What do you mean he kissed you?" Harry yelled.  
  
"We were just talking and he-" Hermione started.  
  
"And did you kiss him back?"  
  
"Yes, but-"  
  
Draco felt that it was time to get involved and save Hermione from Dumb and Dumber. "Potthead and Weasel, if you don't leave her alone, I'm gunna have to hurt you," Draco drawled.  
  
"Sod off, Malfoy," yelled Ron.  
  
"Yeah, this is none of your business, you goddamn asshole!" Harry chimed in.  
  
"No need for the rude names, Potthead. I simply told you to leave Hermione alone. Why are you being so damn cruel to her anyway? She can do whatever she wants with whoever she wants. And she doesn't need friends like you to get in the way. I think Hermione's a big girl now; she's capable of making her own decisions. Are you not?" He looked over at her, and she smiled and nodded. "There you go. I don't think she wants you two being so protective of her all the time. Keep that in mind, won't you?"  
  
"What the hell would you know," asked Ron. "What the hell would you care anyway?"  
  
"Oh, I know and care more than you would think. I care about her and how she feels. I care about the way people treat her. And she shouldn't be treated like scum, which is what you're making her feel right now. Since I do care, I won't punch the crap outta you either because I know how much you mean to her. Though I don't see why anyone would possibly wanna be friends with you." With that, Draco stalked off into the classroom.  
  
He sat down at his usual seat. Mostly everyone was there and waiting for the bell to ring. When it did, Professor Snape came barreling through the door. "Today we will be making a potion. It's called the Imperial Potion. It's sort of like the Imperius Curse, except it's not illegal. This potion will make you do the stupidest things you could possibly imagine. It will embarrass most of you a great deal." An evil smile played across his lips. "Since there is so much work involved in the making of this potion, I will divide you into pairs. Let's see here: Malfoy, Granger; Crabbe, Weasley; Goyle, Potter; Parkinson, Brown; Zabini, Finnigan." This went on until everyone was paired up. "Get with your partners and get working. Hurry up! You don't have time to waste!"  
  
Draco watched Hermione walk over to him and started unloading her ingredients. They both began to work silently. When they were about half way through the potion, Hermione said, "What were you sorry about before?"  
  
"I'll explain after class. I can't risk anyone overhearing right now. It's very complicated," he answered throwing his armadillo bile into the cauldron.  
  
"Okay," she said.  
  
They worked for the remainder of the first period, and by the time they were finished, the potion had turned midnight blue, the color it was supposed to be.  
  
Draco looked around the classroom and noticed that Neville Longbottom and Millicent Bullstrode weren't having much luck. Their potion had turned neon pink. They both stood there, staring at the potion and looking flabbergasted.  
  
When the second period began, Snape said, "Now, we will be testing everyone's potions. This is going to give me great enjoyment. Malfoy, Granger, split your potion and drink it."  
  
They did as they were told. Draco felt like he was flying. It reminded him of the time that he and Cephius had gotten high.  
  
"Both of you hop around the classroom on one foot." Draco heard Snape's voice but it sounded kind of distant.  
  
"Okay," was Draco's initial thought, but he soon realized that it was a stupid idea. "No, that's dumb. I 'm not in the mood to be laughed at." He actually said this out loud without meaning to.  
  
He saw that Hermione was contemplating whether or not to do it, and then she said, "No, I think I'll pass."  
  
"Did you drink all of your potion?" Snape barked.  
  
"Yes, Professor. Why wouldn't I?"  
  
"Maybe so that no one would think any different of you. You're always thinking that you're better than everyone else. Just because you're Head Girl doesn't mean that you can ditch the rules."  
  
"Professor Snape, I finished the potion. Maybe, just maybe I'm strong enough to fight it off. You didn't accuse Draco of not finishing the whole thing when he fought it off," she answered innocently.  
  
"That's because I can trust Mr. Malfoy. He hasn't been breaking any rules over the past seven years, as you have been. That's ten points from Gryffindor for being an insolent fool!"  
  
"But, Professor," Dean began. "Why are you punishing her for doing what she was supposed to do?"  
  
"That's another ten points from Gryffindor for questioning my authority. Keep it up, Thomas, and I'll make it 50," threatened Snape.  
  
Snape forced every pair to take their potion. Draco watched as girls started dancing on tables, and the guys were doing the dumbest gymnastics he had ever seen.  
  
Neville and Millicent sprouted an extra set of arms when they took their potion, and were sent off to the infirmary. Snape took another 30 points from Gryffindor. This sent the Gryffindors in an uproar, but the Slytherins were quite content.  
  
After class was over, they headed down to the Great Hall for dinner. Draco ate quickly and didn't talk to anyone. He was so hungry because he hadn't eaten lunch. When he was finished, he grabbed his bag and hurried out of the Great Hall. He was going over what he was going to say to Hermione when she walked in the common room.  
  
After a few minutes, Hermione walked in and said, "Draco, what did you wanna talk to me about?"  
  
"When I said, 'sorry,' it wasn't because I was sorry for kissing you. I'm sorry for not telling you the truth from the start."  
  
"What do you mean? You've been the only person that has given me any faith, or anything at all since my parents died."  
  
"Hermione, you might wanna sit down. Please don't interrupt me either. This is hard enough, just telling you." He watched her sit down, then continued, "Last year, my father was sending me notes that said he'd kill me if I didn't join You-Know-Who. When I got home over the summer, he kept putting me under the Cruciatus Curse until I said that I'd join. I went to the next meeting, and the Dark Mark was branded into my arm. It hurt so much. After that, I was sent out pretty much every night to kill muggles. I would get home at 8-9 in the morning, sleep all day, then go back out. At the beginning of August, when I got my letter that said I was Head Boy, my dad pissed me off. I sent a letter to Dumbledore, and he said I could spend the rest of the summer here." He watched Hermione's facial expressions change, but he ignored them. "Then a week before the start of term, you came and said the Death Eaters killed your parents. I began to feel guilty because if I was still at home, I might have been involved, and I wouldn't have been able to live with myself. When you locked yourself in your room, I took a knife from the kitchens and cut the Dark Mark out of my arm, and I did a charm to re-grow my skin." He showed her his arm to prove that there was nothing there. "There's something else I have to tell you. I've liked you since we were in our third year, and I never wanna do anything to hurt you." Draco stared down at his feet, he didn't know what she was going to say. "I'm sorry, Hermione."  
  
"How come you didn't tell me before?" Hermione asked very calmly. Almost too calmly in Draco's opinion.  
  
"I didn't know how. I thought you'd hate me forever if you knew I was one at any point in time," he shrugged.  
  
"I don't blame you for what those assholes did to my parents. You weren't there."  
  
They sat in silence for a while. Hermione broke the silence by saying, "If you've liked me since third year, how come you were so mean to me?"  
  
"It was more to piss off Potthead and Weasel. They always got more pissed than you did."  
  
"Thanks, Draco," she said while she was getting up.  
  
"For what?" he was slightly confused.  
  
"For telling me the truth. That took a lot of courage." She began ascending the stairs to her room.  
  
"Hermione, do you like me?" He asked before she walked through her door.  
  
She looked at him and said, "No." 


	5. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 5  
  
Draco looked both shocked and hurt. Hermione broke into a huge smile as she said, "I love you." Draco watched her retreat into her room and shut her door.  
  
"Yes!" he jumped up and bounded up the stairs to his room. It was the happiest he had ever been in his life.  
  
** Oh my God! I finally told Hermione the truth, I told her everything. Wow, that was a shit load off my shoulders. I told her I like her and everything. She said that she loves me. Oh my God! I can't believe it, tomorrow I'm gunna ask her out. And I know she'll say yes. I'll ask her before we go down to breakfast. ** He took a bath that night to cool himself down. The water felt so good against his body, he wanted to stay there forever. At about ten, he got out, wrapped himself in a towel and brushed his teeth. When he went into his room, he put on a pair of black, silk boxers, and went to sleep.  
  
The next morning, he woke up to running water. He dressed quickly, and dashed down to the common room to wait for Hermione. When she walked down, she said, "Good morning, Draco."  
  
"Good morning, Hermione. Did you sleep well last night?"  
  
"Yup, and I feel so refreshed."  
  
"Before we go down to breakfast, I wanted to ask you something. It's kinda important," he said. All of a sudden he wasn't feeling quite as confident as he felt the night before.  
  
"Okay.what's up?"  
  
"Hermione, will you go out with me?" he asked shakily.  
  
"OH MY GOD!! YES! YES!" She ran over and embraced him in a hug.  
  
Draco leaned forward and pecked her on the lips, and they headed down to breakfast. Once outside the portrait, Draco took Hermione's hand, and they walked slowly toward the Great Hall.  
  
"Draco, are we gunna keep this a secret?" Hermione said. "What would happen if your father found out?"  
  
"Yeah." He quickly let go of her hand. "We should definitely keep this a secret. If he ever found out-" his voice trailed off as they reached the Great Hall. They headed toward their separate tables and sat down to eat.  
  
That day, Draco had all of his classes with Hermione. First, History of Magic, then Arithmancy, lunch, and finally double Transfigurations. This made them both happy. They looked at each other and smiled.  
  
When they finished breakfast, they headed toward Professor Binns' classroom. They sat at the desk in the back of the room so they wouldn't be getting any weird stares from the rest of the class. The lesson was so boring, as always. Draco and Hermione wrote notes to each other all period in their notebooks. They eventually started giggling as they drew arrows to different people and labeled them with things like, "loser," "asshole," "freak," and things like that. Professor Binns didn't seem to notice them, but some of the students shot them dirty looks. They couldn't stand to see a Gryffindor and a Slytherin together, especially Harry, Ron, and Pansy.  
  
After class, they went into the hall. Harry pushed Draco from behind. "What do you think you're doing? Hermione is supposed to take notes in class, not talk to you. Usually when someone in class is talking she'll give them dirty looks. Today she was the one receiving them!"  
  
"Jeez, Harry, it's nice to see you care so much," Hermione said coldly. "But really, if you really did, you'd see that I'm happier now than I've been in a long time. Sure I miss you and Ron, but I really don't need you. You left me because I befriended a Slytherin, who happens to be extremely nice. If you wanna be my friend again, you gotta make that decision, 'cause I know what mine would be. Come on, Draco." She grabbed his hand and they headed for the Arithmancy classroom. Thank God Harry and Ron took Divination.  
  
Hermione was still holding Draco's hand as they walked through the halls. "I thought we weren't gunna tell anyone," Draco said after a while.  
  
"They probably just figure I was annoyed. They're too stupid to figure anything out anyway." Hermione was still fuming, but let go if his hand all the same. "God, why do they have to be such assholes?"  
  
"Because they don't know how wonderful and kind I can be." Draco smirked.  
  
"Oh shut up!" She playfully punched him in the arm.  
  
Arithmancy was his second favorite class (Potions being his favorite). He was kind of upset when it went by quickly. He noticed that his favorite classes seemed to fly by.  
  
When it was over, Draco and Hermione headed down to lunch. They went to their separate tables. Draco sat between Crabbe and Goyle and Hermione sat with Lavender, Parvati, and Ginny.  
  
"Draco, how come you don't talk to us anymore?" Goyle asked.  
  
"Because I found someone who shares common interests besides the Dark Arts, and she has a brain. She doesn't grunt at me when I talk to her, and she's very intellectual."  
  
"Are you talking about the Head Girl?" Crabbe asked stupidly.  
  
"I might be." He smirked and looked over at Hermione. They both grunted idiotically and went back to their food.  
  
After lunch, Draco walked out of the Great Hall and he saw Hermione waiting by the marble staircase. He greeted her with a hug, and they headed up toward McGonagall's room.  
  
"You make up with Potthead and Weasel yet?"  
  
"Nope, and I'm not gunna make the first move. They have to see how happy I am. I don't see why they have such a problem with us being 'friends.' Besides, Ginny said that they miss me too, but that they still can't stand you. They wanna beat you up so that you'll leave me." She looked down and then continued, "Would you leave me?"  
  
"Hermione look at me." They stopped in the middle of the hall. She looked up into his silver eyes. "I love you and I will never leave you. You're the reason why I'm still living. I don't care what those two jerks say or do, I won't leave you, I promise."  
  
"I'll never leave you either." She hugged him and whispered to him, "I'd kiss you if there weren't so many people around."  
  
He smiled at her and they walked into Transfigurations right before the bell rang. Once again, they took two seats in the back of the room.  
  
"Today," began McGonagall, "You will be transfiguring your partner into the animal that you think suits them best. You will be working with the person that you are sitting next to. The spells for the different animals are in your text books, it also tells you how to switch them back. I will be walking around to make sure that no one gets hurt. Good luck."  
  
Draco said, "You go first. You'll probably be better at this than me. I do have one request, though. Don't turn me into a ferret."  
  
"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on it," she told him with an evil grin. Then, she muttered a spell and slowly, Draco was turning into a dragon. He wasn't fully grown, but he wasn't a baby either.  
  
A lot of the kids started to scream in fright, but Hermione quickly turned him back. "Ms Granger, that's the most difficult transfiguration in the book. How did you do it so well?" came McGonagall's voice.  
  
Hermione just shrugged and smiled innocently. She had just earned Gryffindor 20 points.  
  
"Your turn, Draco," she smiled.  
  
He nodded and thought, "What animal is like her? She's pure, kind, innocent, beautiful. That's it! She's a unicorn!" He said the spell and Hermione turned into a beautiful, full-grown unicorn.  
  
The class was amazed that Draco had even considered Hermione being a unicorn. Draco also earned Slytherin 20 points for his amazing transfiguration.  
  
Most of the class had some trouble with the difficult task. Since Draco and Hermione had already finished, they got to talk for the remainder of the class.  
  
When the bell rang, Professor McGonagall called, "Mr. Malfoy, Ms Granger, a word please."  
  
They gave each other skeptical looks and walked over to her. She said, "As you know, you will be receiving classes that will assist you in taking down You-Know-Who. They will begin on Saturday, and continue every Saturday up until Christmas break. They will most likely result in pain, however, this will only make you stronger. Good luck!" With that she left the room.  
  
"I didn't know they'd be starting so soon," mumbled Hermione. More to herself than to Draco.  
  
"You scared, 'Mione?" he asked.  
  
"Terrified, I mean we're only 17. I don't want anything to happen to us. We've got our whole lives ahead of us yet."  
  
"Nothing's gunna happen, I promise. I won't let anything happen to you." He kissed her quickly, then peeked outside the room to make sure no one was there and grabbed her hand.  
  
They slowly made their way down to the Great Hall, where everyone was already eating. Before they entered, they let go of each other's hand and headed for their separate tables.  
  
Draco watched Hermione sit between Harry and Ron. They both seemed eager to talk to her. He watched intently, only eating bits of his food. At first, Hermione was annoyed, but after five minutes of what appeared to be begging and pleading, Hermione smiled. She looked up and caught Draco's eye and mouthed, "It's all good."  
  
He nodded and went back to his food. Now, he didn't have to worry so much. The golden trio was back.  
  
After dinner, Hermione ran up to Draco. "They apologized!" she screeched. "They said that they were sorry and that they missed me. I told them that I missed them too, but that I'm not sorry for being your friend. It took them a while to apologize correctly, but we're okay now!" She was so excited that she got her two best friends back. "I also told them about us," she said in a more hushed tone.  
  
"Were they mad about that too?" he asked kind of annoyed.  
  
"No-well at first they were, but I told them that you're a great guy and they accepted the fact that I love you."  
  
"I still don't wanna be friends with them. They are still assholes in my mind and they pissed off my girlfriend. Darkness is Forever."  
  
"Well it pissed me off too, but they've been my best friends for seven years. It just kinda hurts when they don't talk to me."  
  
"I wouldn't know how that feels," Draco said while sitting on a couch and pulling Hermione to him. "I've never had any real friends, except Blaise, just acquaintances really. I lead a lonely life."  
  
"Well what about me?" Hermione said defiantly. "Do you consider me a friend?"  
  
"Of course I do, you know that. You also know that I love you more than anything on the face of the Earth. You mean everything to me."  
  
"You mean everything to me too, Draco Malfoy."  
  
She leaned in and kissed him. The kiss was filled with all the passion and love that each felt for the other. 


	6. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 6  
  
On Saturday morning, Hermione and Draco headed to the opposite side of the lake, in a clearing, where there first lesson would be taking place. Dumbledore was there, along with some teachers, and also some people they had never seen before. They were introduced to everyone and began their training.  
  
They learned curses that couldn't be taught in school. The trainers would shoot hexes at them and wanted them to block them. Some were blocked, but most hit them and left them lying out cold on the floor or they had some sort of weird objects sticking out of weird places.  
  
By the end of the session they were both sore, but they had gotten rid of all the extra parts. They were provided with chocolate to make them feel better.  
  
Once they were in the common room, Draco laid down on his stomach on the closest couch.  
  
"Draco, what's wrong?" Hermione asked.  
  
"My ass hurts so I don't really wanna sit on it. That'll make it hurt more."  
  
She began laughing and Draco whined, "It's not funny, it really does."  
  
"Oh you're so adorable," she cooed.  
  
"Shut up!" He threw a pillow at her and hit her in the stomach.  
  
"You better watch it boy, or I'll smack that ass of yours and make it hurt even more!"  
  
"As long as you don't do that today I'm all for it." He smirked at her.  
  
"Oh my God, that did not come out right!" Hermione began blushing. "I totally didn't mean it that way! You're such a perv!"  
  
"I know, but that's part of the reason why you love me so much." His smirked turned into an innocent smile that made him look angelic.  
  
She just rolled her eyes. "You're sick!" she joked.  
  
"No, but I'm really bored, extremely sore, and very hungry. Wanna do something?"  
  
"Yeah, sure. What are you thinking of?" she asked.  
  
"I dunno. Got any ideas?"  
  
"I thought you already had something in mind." Draco saw her think for a moment, then she said, "Wanna sneak into Hogsmeade?"  
  
"And how do we do that? We're not allowed off the grounds. We would never be able to get there." He eyed her suspiciously.  
  
"Do you have an invisibility cloak?"  
  
"Of course I do!" he said with an air of superiority. "Why?"  
  
"Can you go get it? We're gunna need it to avoid the teachers and Filch."  
  
Draco went upstairs to fetch his invisibility cloak from his trunk. He came down a minute later, and Hermione grabbed him and led him out into the hall.  
  
They headed toward the statue of the one-eyed witch. Hermione stopped next to it and had to grab Draco to keep him from walking any farther.  
  
"What are we stopping for?" Draco hissed.  
  
Hermione tapped the hump and whispered, "Dissendium!" The hump opened and she turned to him and beckoned him to follow her.  
  
Draco watched as she slid down the hump. He followed her down the chute. When he reached the bottom, Hermione had her wand out and lit. Draco followed her as she led him through a passageway and up the long staircase. He slowed down as Hermione did and watched her push open a trap door. It looked like a basement with loads and loads of boxes. The trap door looked just like the floor; if you didn't know it was there you wouldn't have noticed it.  
  
Draco could hear muffled voices up the small staircase. "What store are we in?" he asked.  
  
"Honeydukes," Hermione whispered.  
  
They climbed the last staircase and through the door. A few villagers were there looking at the different candies and trying to decide what kind they wanted. When they were sure that no one was looking, they pulled off the cloak and bought tons of candy.  
  
After that, they went outside into the streets of Hogsmeade.  
  
"How'd you find out about that?" Draco asked.  
  
"Ron's brothers, Fred and George told Harry about it, and he told Ron and me. We've been using it to sneak out since our third year, when we needed candy and stuff. Let's go to Three Broomsticks. I could use some butterbeer."  
  
"Alright," he agreed.  
  
They took each other's hand and headed toward Three Broomsticks. Madame Rosmerta greeted them warmly and gave them their drinks. They settled themselves down at a booth in the back.  
  
When Draco sat down, he moaned and complained, "This really hurts."  
  
"Well you should have blocked those hexes better. Then you wouldn't have fallen on your ass so many times." Hermione laughed at him.  
  
"I fall on my ass 'cause I get hexed and my girlfriend laughs at me. It's nice to know that I'm loved. Thanks, Hermione; make me feel worse than I did when we were at the castle." He put on a fake pout and pretended to be concentrating extremely hard on his hands.  
  
"Oh come on! I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you."  
  
Draco smiled at the comment and began drinking again.  
  
"Why do you have to be so adorable?" Hermione asked out of the blue after a long period of silence.  
  
Draco smirked and said, "It's all part of my natural Malfoy charm."  
  
"You know what you are?" Hermione asked in fake outrage. "You are a self- centered, self-obsessed asshole!"  
  
"Of course I am. I wouldn't be me if I wasn't!"  
  
"Sometimes I wonder why I love you so much, when I could be going out with someone who's nice and sensible, like a Gryffindor." She saw Draco clench his teeth and fists and added quickly, "You know that I'd never go out with either of them. I was joking they're like my brothers, and besides the fact that I'd never like them like that it would just be gross and disgusting!"  
  
He relaxed a little and answered, "Yeah that would be gross. You wouldn't dare go out with them when you've got someone as hot and as charming and adorable as me around anyway!"  
  
When they were done, Draco paid for the drinks, grabbed Hermione's hand, and pulled her out into the cool breeze. It was a warm day, and the breeze blew very lightly. Draco and Hermione walked hand in hand throughout the town and the villagers smiled at the young couple who were so in love.  
  
Before the sun set, they headed back to Honeydukes and up through the secret passage. Once they were through the statue of the one-eyed witch, they took off the invisibility cloak and headed back toward the common room.  
  
"Wanna go watch the sunset?" asked Draco once he put his cloak away.  
  
"Yes! I haven't watched one since." she trailed off.  
  
Draco put a comforting arm around her shoulder and said, "They're still with you, you know? The people we love never truly leave us; they stay and watch over us."  
  
"I know, but I have no adult to get an opinion from anymore. I miss them so much." Tears began welling up in her eyes. "Let's go watch the sunset."  
  
Together they walked down to the lake. They sat on a rock and just held each other silently. Neither of them said a word until it was pitch black and the moon was up and the stars shining brightly.  
  
"You know, I'll never forget the day they died," Hermione said. "We all got mad at each other. My mom told me that I could stay at m my muggle friend's house for the night and when I was about to leave, my dad said, 'no.' After a while my mom agreed with him and told me not to. I started cursing and screaming at them and it was nearing sunset when I stormed out of the house. I was so mad and just needed some time to cool off. I drove around for a while and stopped off in a park to watch the sunset. I remember, it was beautiful that night. It calmed me down a lot and I decided to drive back home. The first thing I saw when I reached our street was a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth over my house. The police were all there, and they let me inside to identify the bodies. I knew what happened, but I couldn't tell the police because they would have sent me to the loony bin. I kept going over our fight in my head. The last thing I ever said to them was, 'Fuck off! Let me run my own goddamn life without you fucking assholes interfering! I can't wait 'til I go back to schools, then I won't ever have to see you assholes ever again. When I'm done with school I'll get a job and live on my fucking own!' I've felt so horrible ever since. And you've helped me so much, but when I'm alone I replay everything and it hurts so damn much! I don't know what I was thinking. I will never forgive myself." She began sobbing into his chest.  
  
"Don't cry 'Mione. They'd want you to move on. No matter what, you gotta try. You loved each other. You'll be fine. I'll help you through this, okay? I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."  
  
"I also told them that I hated them and that I wanted them to die! I grabbed a knife and slit of my wrists, but they stopped me before I could make it really bleed. I was so mad at them at the time, but I'm glad they saved me, because I fell in love.  
  
Draco was shocked. He had never expected her to even attempt anything that would result in death. "Do you still wanna die?" Draco asked.  
  
"Not anymore. Not since we became friends. You helped me to see that I've got so much to live for." She stopped crying, but her face was tear- streaked and Draco's robes were soaked. "Come on, Draco. Let's go back in. We'll be in trouble if we get caught."  
  
They started walking back toward their common room. Draco's arm was around Hermione's shoulder and Hermione's arm was around Draco's waist. They were walking quietly when they heard a voice from behind them, "What are you two doing out of bed at this hour?"  
  
"We're just doing our nightly rounds, Filch," said Draco convincingly.  
  
"Well why don't you split up then, you'll get done faster that way," Filch suggested.  
  
"Okay," answered Hermione slowly.  
  
She walked one way and Draco went the other. Draco hadn't meant that he actually wanted to search for students who were up late. He wouldn't do anything because he snuck out a fair amount of times.  
  
So Draco headed down to the dungeons to pretend that he was doing something. He heard someone call his name from behind a tapestry. "Hey, Draco."  
  
"Who's there?" He asked suspiciously.  
  
"It's Blaise. I've been meaning to talk to you."  
  
"About what?"  
  
"Well-everything really. How come you don't come down to our common room anymore? We miss you."  
  
"I've been busy." All of his answers were short. He wanted to get back to Hermione.  
  
"What's going on between you and Granger?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I wasn't spying, but when I walked passed the Entrance Hall, I looked out the window and saw you guys out there. You were sitting really close. What's going on?"  
  
"We're going out. Blaise, if you tell anyone, even your owl, I swear, I'll- I'll-I don't know yet but when I figure it out I'll let you know. Please, don't tell? If my dad finds out, I'm dead. If any of the Death Eaters find out, I'm dead!"  
  
"I won't tell," she promised. "Aren't you a Death Eater?"  
  
He started to feel a bit uncomfortable. "Well-um-I was, but I cut the Dark Mark out of my arm. I couldn't stand killing innocent people. I'm not my father."  
  
"Draco, if You-Know-Who finds out-"  
  
"He's not gunna find out if you keep your mouth shut!"  
  
"I won't tell anyone," I promise.  
  
"Thanks, Blaise."  
  
"No problem. Just don't tell anyone that I'm out of bed."  
  
Draco watched her throw her black hair behind her shoulder, and he said, "I won't, don't worry."  
  
They both went of their separate ways. Blaise went farther down into the dungeons, and Draco went up a few flights of stairs.  
  
When Draco got to the common room, Hermione was already there, and she was holding a letter.  
  
"Who's that from?" he asked.  
  
"I don't know, it's addressed to you. I haven't opened it."  
  
Draco took the letter and read it to himself. It said:  
  
Draco, Why the hell did you do that to Pansy? You and I both know that you're going to Marry her. She's very upset and thinks that There's something going on between you and That Mudblood Head Girl. There better not Be or there will be hell to pay! You also haven't Been showing up to the Death Eater meetings. I'll let that slide because of school, but after you're Out, I expect you to be at every one. Don't fail Me, you'll be sorry!  
  
Lucius "That asshole!" Draco yelled.  
  
"What's wrong, Draco?"  
  
"My father wants me to marry Pansy. He also wants me to be at all the Death Eater meetings when school is over. We can't let anybody know about us either. He said there will be hell to pay if he hears that something is going on."  
  
"Then no one can know. We can still be civil to each other, but we can't be all touchy, feely, giggly in front of other people," Hermione stated simply.  
  
"I'm still sitting next to you in class," Draco said stubbornly.  
  
"That's fine. I wouldn't have it any other way."  
  
They both went to bed thinking about what would happen if Lucius found out. 


	7. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 7  
  
The next few weeks went relatively eventless. Draco and Hermione had planned a Halloween dance, and no one really bothered them about talking in class. There defense sessions continued every Saturday during the early morning hours. By the time they got back to the common room, they were sore, but not as much as in the first two weeks. With every session, they could feel themselves getting stronger.  
  
The Saturday before Halloween was the first real Hogsmeade weekend. Draco asked Hermione to go with him. Hermione agreed. They said if anyone questioned them, they would say that they were discussing Head business.  
  
Harry and Ron were pissed when she said that she was going with Draco and complained that she never hung out with them anymore. She promised that she'd go down to the Gryffindor common room after they got back since Draco planned on visiting the Slytherins anyway.  
  
"Hermione?" Draco knocked on the bathroom door. "Hermione, come on, we're gunna be late, what's taking you so long?"  
  
She opened the door to Draco's room and said, "Jeez, don't have a cow! I'm coming."  
  
"Okay, well let's go then!"  
  
They grabbed their cloaks and headed for Hogsmeade. They bought some more candy from Honeydukes, joke items from Zonko's, then went to buy dress robes for the dance.  
  
Draco found black ones with silver trim and decided to get them. Hermione took a little longer to find ones that she liked. Eventually she found black robes with gold trim, they looked more like a dress than like dress robes, but she liked them. They bought their robes and headed for Three Broomsticks.  
  
Draco bought two butterbeers and they sat in the back by the warm fire. Hermione looked around and saw Pansy and her Slytherin gang walk in. Pansy saw the two sitting together and made her way over to their table.  
  
"Oh if it isn't Draco and his Mudblood girlfriend. Isn't this adorable?" she sneered.  
  
"If you must know, Pansy, Draco is not my boyfriend, we are strictly here to discuss our duties," Hermione replied smoothly.  
  
"Oh really now? So you wouldn't mind if I joined you then, would you?"  
  
"As a matter of fact I do," said Draco coldly. "I told before, I don't like you! What the hell do I have to do to make you see that?"  
  
"Oh, Drakie, baby, don't you think you're being a bit drastic?"  
  
"NO!"  
  
"Well I think you are. You're letting this Mudblood stop you from getting real women. Like me!" She said this as if she had some invisible air around her.  
  
"Pansy, you're not a real woman. You're a whore! Go fuck yourself. Hell, go fuck Goyle for all I care. Just leave me the hell alone!"  
  
"Oh Drakie, you always have the most wonderful ideas. Now where is Goyle?"  
  
Draco gave Hermione a puzzled look and they both broke out into fits of laughter.  
  
"Well, well, look what we've got here, Dean." Hermione and Draco looked up to see Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas standing over them.  
  
Dean said, "There have been rumors going around school, but I never thought it'd be true."  
  
"Our little Hermione, supposedly loyal Gryffindor, is here with the biggest Slytherin prick imaginable," Seamus continued.  
  
"Yeah, Herm, I never thought I'd see the day when the model Gryffindor started screwing the model Slytherin," Dean went on.  
  
"For your information," Hermione started angrily. "Draco and I are just friends. Nothing more! Why don't you to creeps go fuck off!"  
  
"Wow, 'Mione, I thought I liked you before, but you just look so damn hot when you're mad!" Seamus looked at her, licking his lips. "And since you two aren't screwing, I guess that means I can kiss you."  
  
He closed his eyes and bent forward to kiss her, but instead of being greeted with her lips, he was greeted with a smack.  
  
"Ow! What the fuck was that for?!" he yelled, making heads turn their way.  
  
"That was because you are an asshole. And Dean, if you don't want a nice red mark across your face, I suggest you take your friend and get outta my face!"  
  
Draco watched the two Gryffindor boys run toward the exit. He had been watching the fight with interest and was actually shocked that she had smacked a fellow Gryffindor.  
  
"Oh boy, those do hurt. I know from experience." Draco winced at the thought of when he had been given the same treatment a few years before.  
  
"Yeah, about that, I'm sorry. But you really did deserve it. You and your big mouth, I was so pissed at you."  
  
"Don't worry about it," Draco shrugged. "I did deserve it. I'll admit, I was being an ass, but if I hadn't been, we might not be sitting here right now. After that day, I respected you, internally that is. When you smacked me, I saw Hermione Granger in a whole new light. That day is the day I started to like you."  
  
"Then how come you were still so damn mean to me?" Hermione questioned.  
  
"It was an image thing. Plus, I wanted to please my father. I don't know what possessed me to do that! Plus in the past seven years, I've had hours of entertainment from pissing off Potthead and Weasel." He finished with his trademark smirk.  
  
Soon after, they headed back to Hogwarts. When they got inside, Draco said, "I don't think I'll be going down to the Slytherin common room. By now, Pansy has probably turned them all against me."  
  
"I really don't feel like going to visit the Gryffindors either. I'll owl Harry and Ron and tell them."  
  
When they reached the common room, Hermione wrote a quick note and sent it with Draco's owl. Not even ten minutes later, it came back with a response. Draco read it over her shoulder.  
  
Hermione, Is that asshole doing something to you? If he is, let us know and we'll beat the Shit out of him! We also had an interesting Discussion with Seamus and Dean. They Said that they had a run-in with you and Malfoy at Hogsmeade. Is there something That you're not telling us? We've been your Best friends for seven years now, and you Can trust us. Please come down here. We're Begging you. We miss you so much! You Never talk to us anymore, and it's so annoying. Come on, please? Hope to see you in a few Minutes.  
  
Ron and Harry  
  
"Draco, I really do have to go see them," Hermione turned around and said to him. "I promise I'll be back in fifteen minutes. If not, come down to the common room. It's the portrait of the Fat Lady, and the password is pixie dust."  
  
"Okay fine. Fifteen minutes and I'm coming down there."  
  
"Okay."  
  
They kissed quickly and Draco watched Hermione head out of the portrait hole.  
  
"Why does she have to go see them?" he wondered. "They're just jealous because they realized that they took too long to do anything. Well, I think Weasel does anyway. I see the way he looks at her."  
  
Draco went up to his dorm and pulled out his journal.  
  
** I wish Hermione wasn't so damn loyal to her Gryffindor buddies all the time. I'm not jealous, I just love her, and I'm not particularly fond of her best friends, especially Weasel. The way he looks at her, it makes me want to kill him sometimes. It's like an obsession that I can see through his eyes. If he ever tries to take away my Hermione, I'll kill him! I will literally kill him! She's too good for him anyway, she deserves me! **  
  
When he finished, he went to hide his journal in the bottom of his trunk, when a silver gleam caught his eye. It took a second before he realized that it was the ring he had found in Diagon Alley. Once again he put it on. It showed the same thing as it did last time, but at the end instead of Voldemort yelling Avanda Kedavra, it was Draco who yelled it. After he did, everything went black and then back to normal. He threw the ring back into his trunk, and once he realized that Hermione's fifteen minutes were up, he ran toward the Gryffindor tower.  
  
When he was right outside the portrait, he heard Hermione's voice, she yelled, "Ron, what the hell are you doing?"  
  
"Pixie dust!" Draco yelled at the Fat Lady.  
  
She swung open and she heard Ron say, "Hermione, you aren't gunna tell Draco, are you?"  
  
"Tell me what, Weasel? I heard her yell at you. What don't you want her to tell me?" Draco asked. Everyone in the common room turned to where Draco had just entered.  
  
"How'd you get in here, Malfoy?" spat Ron.  
  
"I gave him the password," Hermione answered in barely a whisper.  
  
"What the hell did you do to her, Weasel?" Draco asked again.  
  
"That's none of your business, Ferret!"  
  
Draco stalked over to where he was standing and said more harshly, "It's all my business, Weasel! What the hell did you do to my girlfriend?"  
  
This made the Gryffindors gape, and there were whispers circulating around the room.  
  
"He grabbed my chest to distract me, and the attempted to kiss me," Hermione whispered. "That's why you heard me yell at him."  
  
"I knew you were gunna try something! I tried begging Hermione to stay with me, but she convinced me that you were her friends, so I let her. I didn't want her to come any where near you. I don't know why I did! If you so much as look at her, I swear to all the gods in the sky, I will make your life a living hell! You are a pathetic excuse for a pureblood! I can't believe that you would do that to your best friend!"  
  
Draco turned to leave when Ron said, "You took her from me, you son of a bitch! I was gunna ask her out on the train, but you and all those goddamn Death Eaters had to go and kill her parents! This is probably all one big set-up. You're probably using her to get information for You-Know-Who!"  
  
"Don't ever call me a Death Eater again!" Draco spat at Ron. "I have no connection to those pathetic wizards who follow orders from someone else."  
  
Draco turned, grabbed Hermione's hand, and led her out of the Gryffindor common room.  
  
"What exactly happened?" Draco asked Hermione in a much softer tone than he spoke to Ron in.  
  
Tears began to stream out of her eyes. "We were just talking and I was trying to get away from them because it was obvious that they were up to something. So I stood up and tried to leave, but Ron grabbed my chest and attempted to kiss me, but I pushed him away as soon as his lips touched mine. Then I yelled at him, and that's when you came in."  
  
They stopped in the middle of the hall and Hermione leaned her head on Draco's chest and sobbed.  
  
"I shouldn't have let you go," he whispered.  
  
"It's not your fault, Draco. I begged you to let me go. I thought they were my friends. I don't know what to do. I'm so scared and everyone in Gryffindor knows that we're going out. What if they tell someone?"  
  
"If they do tell someone and my father finds out, I'll take care of it. I will never in my life let anything happen to you."  
  
Draco took her hand and led her back down to their common room. ~ Three days later, the school was buzzing with excitement. It was Halloween and everybody seemed to be hyperactive. The teachers didn't even bother with giving homework because they knew that it wasn't gunna get done. Even McGonagall and Snape decided to let them off easy.  
  
In Charms, they just reviewed some of the charms that they had learned over the first two months of school. Even though they were in their seventh year, the students still were making objects zoom all over the classroom and making non-living objects hop around the room. Professor Flitwick was enjoying the class, he didn't mind the mess they were making.  
  
Draco noticed this and whispered to Hermione, "Wanna see a midget fly?"  
  
"Draco, you wouldn't!"  
  
He smirked and pointed his wand toward Flitwick and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"  
  
The class watched Flitwick fly up into the air, laughing like he was mad. "I believe we learned this one a few years ago, but it's still good to review older charms too."  
  
No one (with the exception of Draco and Hermione) knew who had done that to Flitwick, but they watched as he drifted over to a pile of pillows and went crashing down onto them as the bell rang. The class laughed like mad as they filed out of the room.  
  
After charms, they all headed up to their dorms to get ready for the dance that would be taking place in three hours. 


	8. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 8  
  
Draco and Hermione hurried up to their common room, but neither of them got dressed right away. Since they could go either formal or in costume, they came to an agreement to meet in the middle. They already had their dress robes; so they decided that they would grow their teeth into fangs, make their skin white, and put black circles around their eyes.  
  
"And to complete the ensemble," Hermione said. "I'm going to straighten my hair and put black streaks in it."  
  
"That's a great I idea! I think I'll slick mine back like I used to. It'll make me look superior."  
  
"You always think you look superior anyway. You've got an air of superiority floating around your head like a halo. Slicking your hair back won't do much for your already overly large ego," Hermione joked.  
  
"Very true, but it'll just look better with my costume than to just leave it all hanging in my face like I've been doing lately."  
  
"But it looks so much better like that."  
  
"Yeah, but this will make my costume look better, " he argued.  
  
"You're right," she finally agreed. "Do what you want, I won't stop you."  
  
"Good, 'cause I was doing it even if you didn't approve."  
  
They smiled at each other and kissed. The kiss was long but not too long since they both had to take showers and get ready. Draco allowed Hermione to go first since he figured she'd take longer.  
  
Once she left, Draco pulled out a muggle book, Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice. The book was actually where he got the idea to be vampires in the first place. He didn't admit it to anybody but most times he found muggle authors more intriguing than wizard authors.  
  
After about twenty minutes, Hermione called down to Draco that he could take his shower. Reluctantly, he closed his book and headed toward his room and the bathroom.  
  
He stepped into the shower and came out when he felt totally refreshed and relaxed. When he came out, he wrapped a towel around his waist and went into his room. He put on his robes, then grabbed his mirror and charmed his hair to slick back (so he wouldn't have to use gel), then charmed his skin to be pure white, and put black circles around his eyes to make them look sunken.  
  
"Perfect!" he thought. "I look so good!"  
  
Draco sat on one of the couched in the common room and began reading again. About ten minutes later, he heard a door open and saw a beautiful woman standing at the top of the stairs.  
  
He gaped at her and after a few moments breathed, "Wow! Hermione, y-you look beautiful!"  
  
And she really did. Her robes were silk and styled like the Hogwarts robes, except they had a v-neck and the sleeves ended at a point at the middle finger on each hand. Her hair was straight, light brown and had black streaks.  
  
"Well thank you, Draco. You also look absolutely dashing!" She smiled and winked at him.  
  
He couldn't help but to smile back. "Oh crap!" he muttered.  
  
"What?!" Hermione asked confused.  
  
"I forgot my fangs! I only remembered 'cause you smiled."  
  
Hermione just shook her head as she watched Draco mutter the spell and two long, white teeth came protruding out of his mouth.  
  
"Much better!" he stated smiling broadly.  
  
"Okay, now that you're sure you're ready, let's go down to the Great Hall."  
  
The two linked arms and headed out. They received an awful lot of weird stares, but most people shook it off figuring they were forced to go together.  
  
The Great Hall was beautiful. There were black and orange fairy lights that were hanging around the walls. There were also dozens of gigantic jack-o-lanterns. Instead of the house tables there were more small round tables and music filled the hall from an unknown source. Instead of inviting a band, they decided to have muggle music protrude the walls from all sides.  
  
The song that was playing when they first arrived was "Lose Yourself" by Eminem. They got on the dance floor and started dancing to the beat. Eventually more people came and started dancing.  
  
The next song was a slow song. Draco wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist and she wrapped hers around his neck. Hermione leaned her head on Draco's chest, closed her eyes and listened to the sound of his heartbeat. Draco looked out across the Hall and saw Harry and Ron glaring at them. They were sitting at a table with two girls who were desperately trying to get their attention. Draco smirked at them and gave them the finger. He saw their face get red, then turned around so he wouldn't have to look at them any more.  
  
After dancing for another hour, Draco and Hermione decided that they needed drinks. Hermione sat down at one of the tables while Draco went for drinks.  
  
Blaise walked over to him by the punch bowl. Her black hair was flowing out behind her and a fake ax in her head and fake blood dripping down her face. "Nice costume," he commented.  
  
"You too. So how's your date going?" she asked.  
  
"I'm having a blast! She's a really great dancer. How 'bout you? Your with that sixth year, what's his name, John, right?"  
  
"Yeah, he's a drag though. All he does is sit around and comments on how hot girls are. He's brought up Granger a few times. He says she's the hottest Head Girl he's seen since he's been here and he's gunna get her in bed or something like that. But I told him if you ever heard him say that, you'd probably kick the shit outta him and he shut up after that."  
  
"You're right, I would've. Wanna come over and sit with us for a while?"  
  
"Yeah, sure."  
  
Draco walked back to the table that Hermione was sitting at. "Hey babe!" he greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. He handed her the punch. "This is my friend Blaise Zabini. I'm sure you've seen her before. She's been one of my best friends since we were kids."  
  
"Nice to meet you," said Hermione shaking her hand.  
  
"Nice to meet you too."  
  
They all sat and sipped their punch quietly for a while before Blaise said, "You know, Pansy's been saying shit about you two down in the dungeons. She's telling anyone who listens that you're quote, 'fucking'."  
  
"She's got that wrong. She's the one fucking every guy in sight. We're dating, and just 'cause we're dating doesn't mean we go fucking day and night," Draco said. His cheeks turned slightly pink without him even realizing it.  
  
"You know she's just jealous," Blaise continued. "She's jealous of every girl that comes within three feet of you."  
  
"Yeah, well that girl's got major issues!" Hermione interjected loudly. "She should just get over it already. Draco doesn't like her, she should just accept the fact and move on with her pathetic life already."  
  
"That's what I tell her every night in our dorm, but does she listen, noooooooooo!"  
  
With that, the three of them started laughing. They were cut short by two people sitting down on the other side of Hermione.  
  
"Doesn't this look friendly?" questioned Harry. "Two Slytherins and a Gryffindor laughing together."  
  
"I never thought I'd see the day," said Ron. "It almost looks like we've been betrayed."  
  
"Fuck off!" answered Hermione.  
  
"Nah! We'll stay," they said.  
  
"Then we're leaving," Draco yelled over the loud music.  
  
He grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her back out onto the dance floor. They started jumping and thrashing around wildly to "Anthem" by Good Charlotte.  
  
Another hour of dancing went by before Hermione whispered in Draco's ear, "Can we go out into the garden? I wanna talk to you about something?"  
  
"Yeah, sure." Draco was bewildered, but agreed anyway.  
  
Outside, they settled themselves on a bench that was surrounded by rose bushes. They could still faintly hear "Somewhere Out There" by Our Lady Peace.  
  
"What's wrong, 'Mione?" Draco asked.  
  
"Would you ever go back to Voldemort?"  
  
"What would make you say that?"  
  
"I dunno. Harry and Ron are just being assholes and for some reason I thought about you and him and I dunno."  
  
"I don't thin I would unless I found it absolutely necessary. Why?"  
  
"Well its just been troubling me." She leaned her head on his chest and he put his arm around her.  
  
After a moment, he said, "Before I left I did receive an assignment from him. I was supposed to make you fall for me, impregnate you, let you have the child that was to be his heir, then I was to kill you. But all that has changed after that first day I saw you. You looked so helpless and I fell for you, hard. That's when I cut the mark out of my arm. I knew I would've never been able to follow through."  
  
"A-are you still gunna do that?" she asked nervously.  
  
"No, I couldn't. I love you too much," he said.  
  
She looked up into his eyes and said, "I love you too."  
  
They leaned in and kissed. It wasn't a long kiss since they were in very exposed area, but it was enough to show each other how much they cared.  
  
"I have just one more Voldemort question for you," Hermione said when they came apart.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"What if we both joined him together?"  
  
"WHAT?!" 


	9. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 9  
  
"Draco, I'm serious. My so-called friends don't care about me. We might be able to pull this off. No one would ever know. Dumbledore and Snape and the staff think you betrayed him. To all the purebloods in this school, I'm just a Mudblood. We could be the most powerful wizards of all time, more powerful than Voldemort himself. Think about it, Draco. We'll be the most well known wizards of all time. We'll be more famous than the famous Harry Potter!"  
  
"You're right! We are the smartest students to pass through this school in decades. With the two of us on his side, he'll be unstoppable! Then when he dies, we take over. We'll rule together. No one would expect either of us. We will be the most powerful wizards ever!" An evil glint passed through Draco's silver eyes. "Hermione, tell me one thing. How come you weren't put in Slytherin?"  
  
"I dunno," she started. "Maybe 'cause Mudbloods like myself aren't allowed in your precious common room." She smirked at him to let him know that she was joking.  
  
"Come on, let's go up to the common room, I've got some letters to send out to people. I'll tell you one thing, my father will probably be very pleased with the both of us."  
  
Back in the common room, the two changed into pajamas, put their teeth and skin back to normal, and sat down to begin writing letters.  
  
"First I'm writing to Father and then to Voldemort. After that I have to write to my friend Cephius," Draco said.  
  
"Who's Cephius?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Oh, he's my American friend. He's not a big supporter of the Dark Arts, but he likes to know what's going on over here, so I usually keep him updated."  
  
"Oh, okay."  
  
The letter to Lucius Malfoy said:  
  
Dear Father,  
  
I must tell you the truth about what's  
  
Been happening this year. Firstly, I am Dating Hermione Granger, the Head Girl. Her parents were killed by Death Eaters, And when I heard this, I was very shocked. I cut the Dark Mark out of my arm and that's The reason why I haven't been at any of the Meetings. I will be at the next meeting, however, And Hermione will be with me. We are both going To become Death Eaters. We do not wish to receive The Dark Mark until after we graduate for safety Purposes. Don't be mad at me for being Untrustworthy in the first place. I did it for the Sake of the woman I love. She might be a muggle- Born, but she's different, she's got the heart of a Slytherin. Please inform us of when the next Meeting will take place. I am also writing to the Dark Lord now to explain the situation. Thank You for your time.  
  
Draco  
  
"How does that sound?" he asked.  
  
"It's good, he should understand."  
  
"Alright, now for Voldie."  
  
My Lord,  
  
I am very sorry, but I have let my loyalty  
  
For you waver. I am dating a muggle-born, The one who is to be the mother to your heir. Because of Death Eaters, her parents are dead And I cut the Dark Mark out of my arm. She Is in the Gryffindor House but has the heart and Ambition of a true Slytherin. Because of her, I Have seen the error of my ways. I realize that I made a mistake in leaving you. Now, we have Both decided that we want to join you. We feel That we can be a great asset to you, however we Do not wish to receive the Dark Mark until after Graduation for safety purposes. Please understand That I never meant for my loyalty to waver and I Am up for whatever punishment you have in store for Me. As I have stated, we will be at the next Meeting. We wish to join you and would like To help fight for your cause.  
  
Sincerely, Draco Malfoy  
  
"Okay, two down, one to go."  
  
"Do you really think he's gunna punish you just for cutting the Dark Mark out of your arm?" Hermione asked.  
  
"I don't know. I hope not. I've been put under the Cruciatus Curse for missing a meeting to hang out with Cephius. Believe me, it hurts. I don't want him to do that to me again, but I might just have to put up with that pain."  
  
"Oh." Hermione looked down at the floor. She couldn't begin to imagine what the curse felt like. She had seen it performed and it looked very painful.  
  
The last letter Draco wrote said:  
  
Dear Cephius, I know that you will probably kill me for telling You this, but I am going back to Voldemort.  
  
Hermione is coming too. I know how you feel about The Dark Arts, but this is something I really have To do. I'm sorry and I understand if you don't Write back. I want you to know that I value our Friendship and I know that there is nothing I can Do to make you change your mind about all of this.  
  
I'm sorry, Draco  
  
"I feel horrible about this last one," he said when he finished.  
  
"I'm sure he'll understand. If he's your real friend, he won't turn his back on you."  
  
It was after midnight when they headed up to the owlery. Draco sent the letter to his father with his eagle owl, and the other two were sent with school owls.  
  
"I hope they don't kill me. All of them will get pissed by at least one part of the letters. I don't know if Voldemort will let me back without some form of punishment," Draco said after he sent the last owl off.  
  
"Draco, I'm sure you'll be fine. Lucius and Voldemort will probably be glad that you're going back. And if Cephius gets mad then that's his problem."  
  
"You're right, 'Mione. I have absolutely nothing to worry about. We are both gunna be perfectly fine."  
  
"Yeah." ~ The next morning they both took showers, got dressed and headed down to the Great Hall. They weren't holding hands as usual, but Draco remembered what had went on the night before and they didn't need to hide their relationship anymore. When they were about half way down to the Great Hall, Draco grabbed Hermione's hand.  
  
"What are you doing?" she asked.  
  
"Hermione, we don't hafta hide it anymore, my father knows, remember. Everyone can know. We don't hafta hide anymore."  
  
"Oh yeah!"  
  
They stopped to the side of the doors to the Great Hall as the students were filing in.  
  
"Well, then Draco, since we don't hafta hide it anymore, I guess I can do this right in front of everybody."  
  
She pulled him to her and kissed him right in front of everybody. Everyone stopped and watched as the Slytherin and Gryffindor started kissing in front of them all. They only started talking and moving once the two had already sat down at their tables and were smiling.  
  
The whole hall was buzzing during breakfast. Everyone was talking about what just happened. The teachers up at the staff table were smiling. There was some improvement going on with Slytherin/Gryffindor ties.  
  
After breakfast, Draco and Hermione went up to Defense Against the Dark Arts. The class was so boring. They had a new teacher who had absolutely no experience with the Dark Arts. Draco and Hermione whispered back and forth during the whole class period. ~ The rest of the week went by quickly. On Saturday, Draco and Hermione were excused from their Dark Arts lesson for the first Quidditch match of the year.  
  
Hermione walked out of the school with Draco. They stopped outside of the locker room. Draco said, "I expect that you'll be cheering for me and not Potthead."  
  
"Of course I'll be cheering for you! Potthead is an asshole! Plus Weasel is on the Gryffindor team, he's a chaser and I've had just about enough of them."  
  
"Good. Then I want you to wear this." He took her Gryffindor scarf off from around her neck and threw it on the floor. It was replaced with his Slytherin scarf that he took off form around his neck. "And this too." He pulled a silver chain over his head. It had a silver snake on it and curled in the snake's tail was a very rare green jewel. He slipped it over her head.  
  
"Oh Draco, it's beautiful!"  
  
"Just like you."  
  
They looked into each other's eyes and kissed. The kiss was very passionate and was backed with all of their emotions.  
  
When they came apart, Draco said, "Wait here for Blaise. She'll sit with you at the game. I have to go and prepare my team since I am the captain." All she could do was nod.  
  
The Slytherin locker room was silent. They were all sitting on the benches waiting for Draco to say something. Five minutes before the start of the game, he finally said, "Today we're playing the second best team. Second only to us of course. Don't let that get to your heads. We have to play our hardest today. It's gunna take a lot on everyone's part for us to beat this team, but we can do it. Come on! Let's show those Gryffindor bitches who's king of the Quidditch field!"  
  
"Yeah!" they all cheered. "The Gryffindor bitches are going down! Potter is dead!"  
  
They all walked out onto the Quidditch field and came face to face with the Gryffindors.  
  
Madame Hooch made Draco and Harry shake hands. They each gripped the other's hand like they wanted to break it. On the whistle they all flew up into the air. Draco and Harry flew off in search of the snitch.  
  
Ten minutes into the game, the score was 50-20 Slytherin. Twenty minutes into the game, the score was 120-100 Slytherin. Thirty minutes into the game, the score was tied at 150.  
  
Draco saw Harry dive at the other side of the field. He was obviously attempting the Wronski Feint, but Draco wasn't fooled. He caught sight of the snitch by the Slytherin goal posts. Quickly he went into a dive in the opposite direction of where Harry was. He was just about there when he caught sight of a scarlet blur coming up from behind him. Draco lay flat on his broom to get all the extra speed he could get. Right before he grabbed it, Harry was hit in the side by a bludger and was winded. Draco reached out and grabbed the snitch. Slytherin won 300-150.  
  
To celebrate, Draco did a victory lap around the stands. When he reached where Hermione was sitting (on the Gryffindor side), he pulled her up onto the back of his broom and flew around once more before landing.  
  
"You did it, Draco!" she squealed hugging him. "You finally beat the great Harry Potthead!"  
  
She said the last part right as the Gryffindor Quidditch team was walking by. They all gave her dirty looks so she gave them the finger and continued hugging Draco. 


	10. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 10  
  
They walked back to their common room together. "Did you see Potthead's face?" Draco asked.  
  
"When you beat him or when I gave him the finger and called him Potthead?" she grinned evilly.  
  
"Both. He was totally shocked. When you gave him the finger though, he looked like he wanted to kill you."  
  
"Darkness is Forever."  
  
When they entered the common room, they saw three owls waiting for them. "Which one should I open first?" he asked himself.  
  
He took the one from Lucius first. It said:  
  
Dear Draco, At first hearing that you loved a muggle came as a real Shock. But I am not going to kill you. I am very pleased That you are returning to the Dark Lord and that you are Bringing the smartest witch in the school with you. Never Attempt to leave again, that was very disappointing to hear. However, you are coming back, so I will not punish you. The Next meeting is Sunday, the fifth of November. Meet me in The Astronomy Tower at 7 pm. We will be meeting out in a Clearing past the Forbidden Forrest. Bring your broom with You, we will be flying. I suspect that you and the girl will Be flying together. I will see you Sunday night. I'm very Glad that you have returned.  
  
Your Father  
  
"Okay, so he won't kill us," said Draco with a slight hint of happiness in his voice.  
  
"I told you it would be okay."  
  
"I know, I know. Now let's see what ol' Voldie has to say."  
  
Draco, I fully understand your need to have denounced me. You Will not be punished for this. Do not worry about the Dark Mark, both you and the girl will receive it after Graduation. I suspect that your father has already informed You about when the next meeting is. I will warn you that The next time your loyalty wavers, you will be punished. Do I make myself clear?  
  
Lord Voldemort  
  
"So I'm still not dead," Draco said.  
  
"And you're not gunna be. Who would possibly dream about killing someone as adorable as you?"  
  
"I'm sure not everyone shares the same ideas as you. I know that Potthead and Weasel wanna kill me."  
  
"Yeah, well they're assholes."  
  
Draco grabbed the last letter from the remaining owl.  
  
Dear Draco, It doesn't really bother me that you're going back to the Dark Lord. I know that you are only doing what you feel Is right and I'm not going to stop you. I wasn't planning On telling anyone until after graduation, but I too am Joining Voldemort. I will be at the meeting on Sunday. I'm already 18 so I will be apparating there. See you Sunday.  
  
Your friend, Cephius  
  
"What the hell is he thinking?! He told me that he wasn't into the Dark Arts!"  
  
"Maybe something happened at his school or something," Hermione tried to reassure him.  
  
"Maybe, but I still wanna know what's really going on. He always swore he wouldn't choose sides. He swore he'd remain neutral."  
  
"Well, I guess you'll find out tomorrow. Try not to worry about it right now."  
  
"Yeah, I guess. You wanna go to lunch? I'm starving and can use a good meal."  
  
"Sure, but uh don't you wanna change outta your Quidditch robes first?"  
  
"That'd probably be a good idea. I'll be down in a few minutes."  
  
Hermione nodded and watched him retreat up the stairs.  
  
In his room, Draco searched through his trunk until he found baggy black jeans and a Good Charlotte shirt. When he was about to close his trunk, he noticed the ring again. This time when he put it on, he saw something totally different than he had seen previously.  
  
^ It was Draco and Hermione's wedding. Everybody who was there was a Death Eater. When they walked out of the chapel, they were stopped by Voldemort. He said, "You know what you must do."  
  
"Yes My Lord," they answered, then got into the limo and drove away. ^ After that everything returned to normal. This time instead of throwing the ring back in his trunk, he brought it downstairs and showed it to Hermione. He told her the three images he had seen when he put it on.  
  
"It sounds like it changes whenever your priorities change," Hermione said thoughtfully.  
  
"You put it on. See what it shows you."  
  
When Hermione put the ring on, it looked like she went into some kind of trance. Her body started shaking and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. A few seconds later, she snapped out of it.  
  
"What'd you see?" he asked anxiously.  
  
"The same thing you saw a few minutes ago. It appears to show the future as if your priorities stay the same as the moment you put it on. I suggest not using it, you'll probably end up going insane."  
  
"You're probably right, as always." Draco ran upstairs and threw the ring back in his trunk once again.  
  
When he got back down to the common room, he took Hermione's hand and led her down to the Great Hall for lunch. By the time they got there almost everyone was gone, so they both sat at the Slytherin table. A few students who were left from Slytherin and Gryffindor glared at them, but they didn't notice. And if they did they pretended not to.  
  
"I didn't know you listened to muggle music," Hermione said looking down at his shirt.  
  
"Yeah, I do. I like punk rock. Good Charlotte is one of my favorite bands."  
  
"Mine too. I love punk music, which explains why I dress the way I do."  
  
Draco looked down at her clothes and noticed that she was wearing the same pants as him and a Fox Racing shirt.  
  
"That would explain that." He smirked. "So what's your favorite band?"  
  
"Well, it's hard to choose just one favorite. But I like Jimmy Eat World, Good Charlotte, New Found Glory, MXPX, Unwritten Law, Anti-Flag, Blink 182, Boxcar Racer, Green Day, and Metallica. I think you get the point," she stopped although she could've kept going. "There's others, but if I told you every band I liked we'd be here all day."  
  
"Yeah, probably. Come on let's take a walk, it's so boring in here."  
  
"Okay," she agreed.  
  
Hermione and Draco walked around the giant lake a few times. Draco explained what most of the meetings he had been to were like. She was kind of nervous, but he assured her that she had nothing to worry about because Voldemort keeps his promises and he promised not to harm them.  
  
On the way back up to their common room, Hermione was pulled into an empty classroom and since Draco was holding her hand he was pulled with her.  
  
"What d' you want, Potter?" she spat at him.  
  
"I want to talk to you without The Famous Bouncing Ferret here."  
  
"No! He stays and he's not a ferret. Watch your mouth! Last time you and Ron wanted to 'talk' to me I almost killed myself. Draco stays."  
  
"Fine! Why are you acting so weird lately?" he asked.  
  
"I'm not the one who's acting weird! That's you and Ron. Since the beginning of the year, you haven't realized that I fell in love. You are both totally oblivious to the fact that Draco makes me happy! When I did finally get down to the Gryffindor common room, Ron kisses me and you do absolutely nothing to stop it. You guys were obviously planning something, I could tell by the looks on your faces when I walked in. That was some obvious attempt on both your parts to get me to break up with Draco. Well, I got news for you, THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!" Hermione was fuming.  
  
Harry, obviously afraid, stepped back a few steps and asked, "Why were you sitting in the Slytherin stands at the game?"  
  
"Isn't that obvious, Potter?" Draco drawled.  
  
"No it isn't you filthy ferret. Why don't you tell me," Harry commanded.  
  
"We don't hafta take this bullshit. Come on 'Mione, this guy's a psycho."  
  
They started to walk out the door. Harry shouted after them, "That's right! Go with him you filthy Mudblood! You should've been put in Slytherin in the first place you fucking slut!"  
  
Hermione pulled her hand away from Draco's and smacked Harry hard. He winced in pain as tears welled up in his eyes.  
  
"Don't ever call me Mudblood again!" she whispered vehemently at him. "I have the power and the desire to kill you right here and now. DON'T TEMPT ME!"  
  
She stormed out of the room with Draco right behind her. He was staring at her, totally stunned.  
  
"Hermione! I can't believe you just said that!"  
  
"What? Hit him or threaten him?"  
  
"Both. He almost cried when you smacked him."  
  
Hermione smirked at him and he at her.  
  
"I can't wait until tomorrow night," Hermione said once they were safe in their common room.  
  
"Weren't you nervous about that like twenty minutes ago?"  
  
"Well yeah, but that's only because I felt kinda bad for Potthead. Now I don't really care what happens to him. He's a typical asshole. We've been friends for over six years and now he decides that I'm a Mudblood. If he felt that way about me, he should've said so six years ago on the train and then I wouldn't have bothered with him."  
  
"'Mione, like you said, he's an asshole. Don't worry about it. Tomorrow you'll meet new people who will treat you with the respect that you deserve. I mean, you will be the mother of Voldemort's heir."  
  
"How do you know they'll treat me with respect? I am muggle-born you know. What if they treat me like common street trash?"  
  
"They won't. I won't let them."  
  
"Good." ~ The rest of the night and the next day went quickly. At 6:30, Draco grabbed his broom and he and Hermione headed for the Astronomy Tower.  
  
Draco was giving her some last minute tips on the way up. "Remember, show no emotion. Look directly into his eyes when he speaks to you. Don't fidget. When he tortures somebody, don't wince, scream or look away because you'll be his next target. If he ever does torture you, and don't worry that won't happen tonight, try not to make a sound. It does hurt, but if you cry out the punishment will only last longer."  
  
Hermione nodded her head. "Is that all?" she asked sarcastically. "That's not so much to remember."  
  
"No sarcasm either, he doesn't appreciate it. He lacks a sense of humor."  
  
They reached the Astronomy Tower and had ten minutes to spare before Lucius was scheduled to arrive. Since they had nothing to talk about, they decided to make out.  
  
At 6:58, Lucius showed up. He cleared his throat loudly to make his presence known to them. They both stood up and blushed.  
  
"I'm sure you took the liberty of explaining how these meetings run, Draco," Lucius inquired.  
  
"Yes, Father. I went over everything."  
  
"Ms Granger." He nodded at Hermione. "I'm glad that you decided to join us. Believe me, you will not regret this."  
  
Hermione nodded and mounted Draco's broom behind him. Draco felt her wrap her arms around his waist and lean her head on his back.  
  
Lucius took off through the same window he came through and Draco followed after him.  
  
They flew in silence for an hour and a half. When Draco saw his father start to head downward, he followed closely. They landed in a clearing just beyond the Forbidden Forrest, where the meeting was to take place.  
  
Draco looked around and noticed that they were the first people there. Within two minutes, Voldemort appeared with Peter Pettigrew. Draco watched as Voldemort pressed a long finger onto the Dark Mark on Peter's left arm. He saw it turn black and then there were popping noises heard all over. The Death Eaters began to fill in the circle.  
  
Draco and Hermione stood off to the side to wait until they were called upon. Another cloaked figure walked over to them. When he reached them, he pulled off his hood.  
  
"Cephius!" Draco said excitedly.  
  
They hugged each other. "It's good to see you again, Draco."  
  
"Yeah it is. But what the hell are you doing here? I thought you weren't into the Dark Arts."  
  
"I'm defying my parents. They were the ones who were holding me back."  
  
"I see." Draco paused then turned to Hermione. "Cephius, this is my girlfriend, Hermione. Hermione, this is Cephius."  
  
Cephius shook her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Hermione."  
  
"The pleasure's all mine, Cephius."  
  
Cephius was slightly shorter than Draco and was slightly less built. He had pale skin (But still had more color that Draco), his hair and eyes were both black. All in all, he was pretty hot.  
  
"So what else is new back in the states?" Draco asked him.  
  
"Well, my girlfriend and I are going to transfer to Hogwarts probably before Christmas break."  
  
"Sweet! So who's your girlfriend?"  
  
"Her name's Elana Jenkins. We've been going out for almost a year-"  
  
Before he could finish, Voldemort began to talk. "Today, we will be welcoming two new and one returning Death Eater that realized the mistake that he made. The returning Death Eater is Draco Malfoy. And the two new ones are Cephius Blacktree and Hermione Riddle." 


	11. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 11  
  
Voldemort stopped and looked around at everyone. Their mouths were open and they were all staring at Hermione. Voldemort looked over at her. Her mouth was also open and she was staring at him like he had more heads than Fluffy.  
  
"Excuse me?" she choked out.  
  
"Hermione, your last name is not Granger, it's Riddle. Contrary to popular belief, you are not a Mudblood. Your mother was a witch and she died while giving birth to you. I put you in a muggle adoption center. The Grangers adopted you when you were four months old. They raised you and made you believe that you were a muggle. You were put into Gryffindor for this reason, but you do not belong there, you belong in Slytherin. Tomorrow I expect you to go to that fool of a headmaster and demand to be switched. Tell him that he must have the Sorting Hat re-sort you," Voldemort said.  
  
"Yes.Father," she whispered.  
  
"Draco Malfoy," he called.  
  
"Yes My Lord."  
  
"Now do you understand why it must be this girl?"  
  
"Yes, My Lord. But how come you told me to kill her after she had the child?" he asked cautiously so not to offend Voldemort.  
  
"Because I knew you had a soft spot for her. I knew you wouldn't bring yourself to do it, and I knew that she would be drawn to me."  
  
Draco nodded and went back to stand next to Hermione. Voldemort addressed the Death Eaters once again. "Today we are here to discuss the fate of the Mudbloods and Mudblood lovers at Hogwarts. I want them all dead. It is obvious that I cannot have the students take on this task. They cannot be expelled. At Christmas break, I want you to block the carriages from going through and you will kill all Mudblood and Mudblood lovers."  
  
One daring Death Eater spoke up. "How do you expect our kind to live on if all the muggles are dead? We need them to survive."  
  
"Crucio!" Draco, Hermione, and Cephius watched as the man cringed in pain. "Do not question the authority of Lord Voldemort. You will do as I say. None of them deserve to live. They don't deserve to breathe the same air as we do. They are below us."  
  
The man cried out in pain. "I was just about to let you go, but since you cry like a little baby, you can enjoy this wonderful activity for a while longer," Voldemort drawled out slowly.  
  
Draco watched as the man's hands began to bleed because they were clenched together so tightly. He hated when he had to bare this pain. It was the worst feeling in the world.  
  
After another minute, Voldemort released the man from the terrible pain. "Never speak out against me again. Do you understand?" he hissed.  
  
"Yes My Lord," he mumbled. He was still on the floor and was staring down at his bloody hands.  
  
"Stand up you insolent fool! I expected better of you, Nott. But no, after all these years, you still haven't learned and you probably never will."  
  
There was another brief period of silence. It was as if Voldemort was daring somebody else to speak. When he figured no one would say anything, he spoke up again. "If no one has anything to say, you are free to go. I expect you to be at Hogwarts when they let out for Christmas. Cephius Blacktree, Draco Malfoy, and Hermione Riddle, I need a word with you."  
  
"Draco, do I need to show you the way back to the school?" Lucius asked.  
  
"No, Father, I know the way. We'll be fine," Draco answered.  
  
Lucius nodded, grabbed his broom and was gone with a POP.  
  
"Blacktree, I'm sure you have made arrangements to be transferred to Hogwarts."  
  
"Yes My Lord. I have made arrangements for myself and my girlfriend to be transferred. She will also be at the next meeting. We will be transferring next weekend," he replied.  
  
"Very good. You may go."  
  
He stepped off to the side but didn't disapparate; he wanted to talk to Draco and Hermione before he headed back.  
  
"As for you two," he said turning to Draco and Hermione. "You are to be the parents of my heir. I expect to have the child within three years. That will give you enough time to graduate and get settled. Do not disappoint me."  
  
"Yes My Lord/Father," they answered together.  
  
"It has been very nice seeing you again Hermione. I know that you will not fail me, it's not in your blood to fail." A twisted smile was planted on his face. Before anyone could say anything else, he disapparated and the three teenagers were left to talk.  
  
"You're his daughter!" Draco almost yelled. "Did you know?"  
  
"No. I had no idea. Oh my God, how come they never told me I was adopted? I was living in their house for seventeen years! God damn it I hate them!" she screamed. "I'm glad they're dead!"  
  
Draco pulled her to him and whispered, "Hermione, it's okay. I'm sure they had a good reason not to tell you. There must have been a reason, I'm sure they would've if they could've."  
  
"You're probably right, but I still feel so betrayed."  
  
There was an awkward silence. Cephius broke it by saying, "So you guys are gunna have his heir?"  
  
"Yeah," they both said.  
  
"It's not so bad you know," Hermione said. Her voice was steady and calm even though she wasn't.  
  
"What's not so bad?" asked Draco and Cephius together.  
  
"None of this. None of it is really so bad. I'm a Death Eater, I'm Voldemort's daughter, Draco and I are gunna have his heir. It's not so bad."  
  
"Wow," was all Cephius could say.  
  
"You're sure taking this better than I would've," Draco laughed dryly.  
  
"You have a lot of courage, you know that Hermione," Cephius said. "You are braver than I could ever be. I hardly even know you and already I admire you."  
  
"Well thank you, Cephius. That's very sweet."  
  
"So I guess I'll be going now before someone realizes I'm gone. Besides, Elana said she has a surprise for me."  
  
"Okay. Then we'll see you next weekend," Draco said.  
  
"See ya then," Cephius answered. He hugged Draco and then Hermione and disappeared with a POP.  
  
Draco mounted his broom and made sure Hermione was holding on tight to him before kicking off.  
  
"Draco, I'm so scared," she cried into his back.  
  
"'Mione, you just said you were fine with all of this."  
  
"I can't show weakness. I can't let anyone see me cry. That would be a disgrace to my name. I have to be strong!"  
  
"Now 'Mione, who do you sound like?"  
  
"Ummm."  
  
"You sound exactly like me last year, and all the years before that, hell I'm still like that."  
  
She smiled a little. "But that's how you were brought up," she reminded him. "You learned that pain was weakness. I learned that pain makes you stronger. But now I realize that whoever said that is totally fucked up! Pain is weakness!"  
  
"I never thought I'd hear that come out of your mouth." He smirked into the cold air that was blowing against his face and making his hair blow in every different direction. "You sound more like a Slytherin everyday."  
  
"That's 'cause I am a Slytherin, silly. Tomorrow I will officially be switched to the Slytherin House. You are coming to Dumbeldore's office with me tomorrow morning, right?" she asked nervously.  
  
"Of course I am. I wouldn't make you go up there by yourself for something like this," he reassured her.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"No problem."  
  
The school was in sight now. Draco figured it would be another half hour before they reached the school. He could feel Hermione trying to keep her head in the center of his back so the wind wouldn't beat against it. She was also pulling his cloak around her hands so that they would stay a little warm.  
  
Finally Draco landed in the Astronomy Tower. "I'm so cold," Hermione mumbled.  
  
"Here." He took off his cloak and put it around her shoulders. He took her hands in his, they felt like ice.  
  
On the way down to the common room, he had his left arm around her waist and was holding her left hand. He was also holding her right hand with his in attempts to warm them up some.  
  
Surprisingly, they reached the common room without running into anybody. Draco lit a fire and sat with Hermione in front of it. He was sitting on the floor with his back against a chair and Hermione sitting between his legs with her back against her chest. Their fingers were interlocked and neither spoke. They were just happy to be there in each other's company. Thoughts about the day were racing through their minds, but they did their best to block them out.  
  
They fell asleep just like that, in front of the fire, Hermione leaning on Draco, Draco leaning on the chair, and their fingers interlocked. ~ Draco awoke first the next morning and looked down at the sleeping beauty in his arms. It appeared that neither of them had moved, they were in the same position.  
  
Draco looked down at his watch. "Oh shit!"  
  
Hermione awoke with a start. "What is it?"  
  
"We're missing Care of Magical Creatures."  
  
"Don't worry about it. I don't much feel like taking care of some stupid animal that is probably gunna rip my head off. Plus after we change we gotta go visit Dumbledore," she mumbled groggily.  
  
"Oh yeah. You hafta get re-sorted. I forgot about that."  
  
They headed up to their rooms and changed into their school uniforms. When they came back down to the common room, they grabbed their bags and headed toward Dumbledore's office.  
  
"Lemon Meringue Pie," Draco mumbled as they reached the gargoyle. It jumped aside and allowed them access to the staircase.  
  
Hermione knocked lightly on the door and Dumbledore said brightly, "Come in! Come in!" He saw Draco and Hermione and said, "Mr. Malfoy, Ms Granger, how come you aren't in class?"  
  
"I-I need to be re-re-sorted. I found out my t-true identity last night a- and I must b-be re-sorted now," Hermione stuttered.  
  
"How did you find out?" Dumbledore asked curiously.  
  
"It came in a letter from her real father last night. It burned after we finished reading it," Draco lied quickly. "It said that we were to come up here and have her re-sorted first thing today."  
  
"Very well then," Dumbledore muttered gloomily. "I had a feeling that this day would come, yet I did not want to believe it."  
  
Dumbledore picked up the Sorting Hat and place it on Hermione's head. She heard it talking in her head like she had in her first year.  
  
"Hmm, it seems I have made a mistake. I like everybody else assumed you to be muggle-born. It seems I was wrong. You are not muggle-born and are in fact a pureblood, and should have never been put into Gryffindor. You have all the qualities of a true Slytherin, ambition and a thirst for power. You are definitely-SLYTHERIN!" it shouted at last.  
  
Hermione sighed in relief and Draco smiled at her.  
  
"Very well Ms Granger-er-Riddle. It seems that the Sorting Hat does have a flaw. I will send a house elf to re-decorate your living quarters. You two do not need to go to your first class since there is only ten minutes left. Enjoy the rest of your day." Dumbledore felt extremely let down. The best student in the school was in fact a Slytherin. He was very disappointed that the girl who had brought so much glory to Gryffindor should have never been there in the first place.  
  
"Oh, Professor?" Hermione smiled sweetly at him. "Would you mind telling the Slytherins and Gryffindors before lunch? That would be a disaster if you didn't. And would you please not tell anybody my real last name? I'm not embarrassed, I just don't feel like being killed."  
  
"Of course dear." He smiled weakly as he watched her leave with Draco.  
  
The two were very pleased with the outcome of their little meeting. 


	12. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 12  
  
They walked around the castle for the next ten minutes, then headed down to the greenhouses for Herbology. Hermione didn't normally have Herbology then, but since she was in Slytherin, she now had to take Slytherin classes. No one remembered that the classes wouldn't be told until lunch, so everyone was a bit surprised to see Hermione there.  
  
"What the fuck are you doing here, Mudblood?" shrieked Pansy.  
  
"You'll find out at lunch," Draco answered for her.  
  
"Uh, Draco, why do we have to wait for lunch?" Crabbe asked stupidly.  
  
"'Cause you do you stupid git. Don't worry about it right now." Draco managed to stay calm and not get mad.  
  
Professor Sprout walked in late and said, "I'm sorry for the delay. Professor Dumbledore just called a brief teachers meeting concerning Ms Granger. She is supposed to be here, do not give her a hard time."  
  
The class nodded and got to work. Herbology passed by quickly and soon they were in the Great Hall for lunch.  
  
Dumbledore stood up and said, "Good afternoon. As some of you might have noticed, a student has either left or appeared in one of your classes. When the seventh years were in their first year, the Sorting Hat misplaced one of our students. This has never happened before, but the Sorting Hat, like everyone else in this school was fooled. Hermione Granger was thought to be a muggle-born and for this was placed in Gryffindor even though she has all the characteristics of a true Slytherin. Hermione is actually a pureblood. She found out last night that she was adopted by muggles when she was four months old. This morning she was re-sorted and placed in Slytherin. I know that it will be a difficult transition, but I expect you to handle it like adults. Now dig in."  
  
The food appeared before them, but no one moved to eat it. They all stared at Dumbledore as though he was crazy with the exception of the Slytherins who were staring at Hermione. She felt their eyes upon her, so she looked at the floor and Draco held her hand.  
  
Harry looked at Hermione with a look of pure hatred, the look that was usually reserved for Draco Malfoy. Then he yelled to everyone, "You heard the man, let's eat!"  
  
After that everyone turned to the food that was set before them.  
  
Blaise leaned over to Hermione and said, "Welcome to Slytherin. I'll give you a tour of the common room after we're done eating. Draco, wanna come?"  
  
"Yeah, sure."  
  
"Thanks Blaise. At least I have two friends," Hermione said gloomily.  
  
"Don't say that, I'm sure you'll make some more friends besides us," Blaise reassured her.  
  
"Thanks," she gave a weak smile.  
  
"You don't only have two friends. I know you've got at least three," Draco said.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Me, Blaise, and Cephius."  
  
"I just met Cephius and I've only said like ten words to him," she answered.  
  
"Yeah but he's transferring here, and he'll probably be in Slytherin. And I'm sure his girlfriend's pretty cool. Just relax, you'll be fine."  
  
Hermione nodded and finished her food.  
  
"Ready for that tour?" Blaise asked.  
  
"Yup, let's go."  
  
Draco, Hermione, and Blaise got up and left the Great Hall.  
  
"We go in through the wall with the snake on it," Blaise informed her. "There's one brick with a green snake on it. The password is 'Purebloods Rule!'"  
  
When they reached the wall that had the brick with the snake, Draco said the password and the tiles made an archway that let them through. Once they were inside, Hermione turned to face where they came through and there was a door to let them out.  
  
The common room was very big and surprisingly warm. There were black leather couches and chairs, the walls were green and a roaring fire was ablaze in the fireplace. All in all, it was quite welcoming, and Hermione hadn't expected that at all.  
  
She was staring as if in a trance. "So you like it?" Draco asked.  
  
"It's so much nice than the Gryffindor common room. Potthead and Weasel told me that it was nasty and cold down here, but it's not. I think it's beautiful," she answered still looking around.  
  
"Why'd you ever bother listening to them?" Blaise said.  
  
"I don't know. I thought they were my friends, but.o well, I'm happier without them."  
  
Since Hermione didn't have to share their dorms, the three of them sat in the common room and talked. Draco and Hermione sat on the couch and Blaise sat across from them in a chair. They talked until lunch was over and then headed to Potions.  
  
Draco and Hermione sat together in the back of the room and took notes on the potion that they were going to make. The potion was highly difficult and the end result was that you could here your partner's thoughts for two hours.  
  
"I'm going to assign you partners," Snape said after they had finished with the notes. "Malfoy, Weasley; Granger, Potter; Zabini, Finnigan." He continued until everyone was paired up then said, "Now move!"  
  
Hermione gave Draco a pleading look and then went to sit with Harry as Ron went over to Draco.  
  
Ron and Draco completed their potion without a word spoken between them.  
  
When the second period was almost over and everyone's potion was complete, Snape said, "Now split your potions and say your partners name once you drink it. You will be able to here that person's thoughts for two hours and I want an essay about what you learned about that person."  
  
Numerous groans were heard from around the room, but they did as they were told.  
  
Draco and Ron split their potion and said each other's name. As soon as this was done, they could each here what the other was thinking.  
  
"Weasel's a goddamn asshole and doesn't deserve to be in this school," Draco thought.  
  
"Malfoy's a stupid git who stole my girl."  
  
"She was never yours, asshole!"  
  
"I was gunna ask her out on the train you stupid ass Ferret!"  
  
"Too bad she doesn't like you! Who would though? You're a long-nosed, red- haired, freckle-faced pathetic excuse for a pureblood no less a wizard!"  
  
"You say that again and you won't live to see your eighteenth birthday!"  
  
"First of all I didn't say anything. Second, shut up! And third, do you know how stupid you sound?"  
  
"No, Malfoy, I don't. Why don't you tell me?"  
  
Draco stole a glance over at Hermione. She was sitting with her arms folded across her chest and looked extremely pissed off.  
  
Finally the class was over and it was time to go to the Great Hall for dinner. Hermione left the classroom first and waited for Draco by the door.  
  
"Wanna mess with their minds?" she asked with a devilish grin.  
  
"Hell yes I do!"  
  
"Fine, just play along."  
  
"Okay. But here's the thing, they can't here us when we talk, so when we talk, we gotta think about what we're saying and nothing else."  
  
Hermione nodded and said, "Oh Draco, you were great last night."  
  
"Oh so were you. Where did you learn to do that?"  
  
"Do what, baby?"  
  
"Everything, it was so amazing."  
  
"Oh, such as holding on to your stick as well as I did for a first timer?" She was talking about his broomstick when they went to the meeting and back.  
  
"Oh you know it. It was so great!"  
  
"You sick, perverted asshole! What the fuck are you doing to my woman?" Ron yelled mentally.  
  
"HaHaHa! You're woman Weasel. You wish!" Draco thought back.  
  
"Draco, you just got quiet. What happened?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Nothing really. Weasel called me a sick, perverted asshole and said that you're his 'woman'"  
  
"What?! When was I ever his? Never! And why does he all of a sudden care now. He had six years to ask me out and he never did. I would've said no anyway 'cause I never liked him like that. But why does he all of a sudden care?" she was fuming.  
  
"Hey, Potthead?" she thought. "Tell your Weasel of a sidekick that he's an asshole and that I never was or will be his. I hate him and I hate you. After today, I never wanna speak to either of you again! Got that?"  
  
"You know what, you Slytherin bitch? I never wanna talk to you again either. You can keep you hideously disgusting Ferret. And please keep you sex-life to yourself next time," he thought back.  
  
"For your information, we were not talking about sex, we were talking about our nighttime broom ride. Draco took me out to fly. Now stop listening to my thoughts. Thanks!"  
  
Draco and Hermione entered the Great Hall a little after Ron and Harry and sat at the Slytherin table. They looked across at the Gryffindors and saw Harry and Ron glaring daggers at them. Both Draco and Hermione smirked and turned to their food.  
  
"I can't wait till this damn thing wears off. I hate hearing Weasel's thoughts. 'I was gunna ask her out this. You don't deserve her that. She shouldn't be in Slytherin. How could she fall for you? You don't love her. You're gunna hurt her!' I hate that kid!" Draco said sounding more than a bit annoyed.  
  
"Don't worry about it. Just try to block him out. Potthead's been saying shit about me since we took the potion, so unless he says something intelligent I don't bother answering. When I think about you though he makes gagging noises and says 'LaLaLa.'"  
  
"So you think about me, hm? What exactly do you think about me?" Draco asked.  
  
"How gorgeous your eyes are. How hot you are. How badly I wanna get outta here and kiss you senseless right now."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Even the last part?"  
  
"Mmhm."  
  
Dinner wasn't even half over when Draco and Hermione headed back up to their common room and started making out.  
  
After a half hour, there was a knock on the portrait hole.  
  
"Who's there?" Draco yelled.  
  
"It's Blaise. Can I come in or are you.busy?"  
  
Draco got up and pushed the portrait opened. "No, it's alright. How'd you know where we were?"  
  
"The picture is just slightly obvious." She smiled and sat down on a chair. "This is nice. It's all Slytherin colors in here."  
  
"Yeah, it was just re-decorated this morning," Hermione said. "The house elves did it after I met with Dumbledore. It looks better now than it used to. I like it better this way."  
  
"So do I," Draco said. "I don't like the Gryffindors or their colors very much."  
  
"That potion finally wore off!" Blaise said happily. "All Finnigan kept saying was, 'Wow Blaise is really hot. Hey Blaise you wanna go out with me?' Then I'd say, 'No Finnigan.' 'Please? We'd look great together.' 'NO!' It went like this for the entire two hours. It was so annoying after a while."  
  
"Yeah, Potthead was calling me a Slytherin bitch and he was being an asshole when I was thinking about Draco. He was making gagging noises like a five year old. I hate him so much!"  
  
"At least you won't have to see him so much anymore," Draco reassured her. "Now you've got all your classes with me and there's nothing he can do to you."  
  
"I know." She paused for a moment and then said, "Why don't we get started on those essays? Then Snape will know how immature those Gryffindors really are."  
  
Draco agreed and Blaise said that she would work with them except all of her stuff was in the dungeons. She bid them good night and left. ~ The week went by relatively eventless. Saturday rolled around and Draco and Hermione were up early to go to their lesson. Neither of them were hit by a single hex and were let off early for their good work. They both knew that they didn't need to take these anti-Voldemort lessons since they were Death Eaters, but they didn't want anyone to get suspicious, so they continued to go.  
  
Draco and Hermione were eating lunch when the doors to the Great Hall opened and Cephius and Elana walked in behind Dumbledore. "Why don't you sit at the Slytherin table?" he suggested. "They have room and our Head Boy and Girl are in that House."  
  
"Yes sir," they said together.  
  
Once Dumbledore left them, Cephius and Elana headed for where Draco and Hermione were sitting.  
  
"Hey Cephius!" Draco greeted him with a handshake. Then Cephius and Hermione shook hands.  
  
"Long time no see," he joked. "Draco, Hermione, this is my girlfriend, Elana."  
  
Elana was around 5'6". She had short hair that was dyed red, fair skin, and hazel eyes. Like Hermione, Draco, and Cephius, she was a punk.  
  
"Nice to meet you, Elana," Draco and Hermione said together.  
  
Cephius and Elana sat across from Draco and Hermione to eat lunch. The golden plates and goblets seemed to intrigue them, but they got over it quick because they were very hungry.  
  
"So how's life in the states?" Draco asked.  
  
"Hell," answered Cephius. "Our school was having problems and I kept receiving death threats from my par-"  
  
"Wow look at the ceiling!" Elana interrupted. "It looks just like the sky. That's so amazing!" She was looking straight up with wide eyes.  
  
"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside," Hermione informed her.  
  
Elana put her head back down and said, "Our school wasn't this cool. I've seen one room and it already surpasses the entirety of our school."  
  
Draco and Hermione just smiled at the comment.  
  
After a while, Dumbledore came back and said, "Mr. Blacktree, Ms Jenkins, if you don't mind, I'd like to give you a tour of the school."  
  
"Professor, we can do it," Draco said quickly. "We'd love to show them around. Isn't that right, 'Mione?"  
  
"Yes," she agreed. "We'd love you."  
  
"Very well then. Have fun."  
  
The four stood up and Draco and Hermione began the grand tour of the entire castle. 


	13. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 13  
  
Draco and Hermione showed them all the classrooms and the quickest way from class to class. They also told them to watch out for the switching staircases and secret halls and passageways.  
  
After showing them the inside of the castle, they went out onto the grounds. They showed them the lake and told them not to go into the Forbidden Forrest, and last, but certainly not least, they showed the Quidditch field.  
  
"I love Quidditch!" Cephius exclaimed.  
  
"Me too!" said Elana. "But our school was so cheap, all we had were goalposts. We didn't have a stadium."  
  
"Yeah, here everyone in the school comes out to watch the games," Hermione informed them.  
  
Cephius and Elana were in awe of the stadium. Their school had deprived them of a stadium and their Quidditch teams weren't real good.  
  
After the tour, there was still a half hour before dinner and the Sorting of Cephius and Elana. Draco and Hermione invited them up to their common room. Once again, they were in awe.  
  
"Wow!" said Elana. "How come our common room wasn't this big?"  
  
"Maybe it was, we just had so many people crammed into it," Cephius answered. "This is really nice."  
  
They sat in the common room until it was time to go down to dinner. All of them had things in common, not surprisingly.  
  
They walked down to dinner together. Draco and Hermione went to the Slytherin table and Elana and Cephius went to the front of the hall.  
  
"Good evening everyone! We have two transfer students from the United States," announced Dumbledore. "They are seventh years and will be spending the remainder of the year here. Now they will be sorted."  
  
Professor McGonagall came out with a stool and the Sorting Hat and said, "When I call your name, you will put the Sorting Hat on your head and be sorted into your appropriate Houses." They nodded. "Blacktree, Cephius."  
  
Cephius walked up and sat down on the stool. In about three seconds it yelled out, "SLYTHERIN!"  
  
The Slytherins clapped as he made his way over and sat across from Draco and Hermione. Pansy was next to him and she said, "Hey hottie, you wanna come to my room tonight after dinner?"  
  
"Uh no, I have a girlfriend," he said rudely.  
  
"Well she don't have to know about it, you are from America, right?"  
  
"Jenkins, Elana," McGonagall called.  
  
Elana went up and sat on the stool. After a few seconds, it yelled, "SLYTHERIN!"  
  
Once again, the Slytherins cheered. Elana sat down next to Cephius and kissed him. Cephius looked over at Pansy and smirked. She let out a small "Hmph" and turned back to Dumbledore who was speaking again.  
  
"Now that that's taken care of, Let's eat!"  
  
The food appeared magically on the tables and everyone began eating.  
  
Draco turned to Hermione and asked, "Do you wanna learn how to fly?"  
  
"Yes! Can you teach me?"  
  
"After dinner. We'll go out to the Quidditch field. I've been thinking about it and last week you seemed kinda nervous, so I thought you might wanna learn."  
  
"I'd love that Draco!"  
  
So after dinner, they got Draco's broom and headed out to the Quidditch field.  
  
"Okay, so you know how to mount the broom, right?" Draco asked.  
  
She mounted the broom and Draco made sure she was on right. "Okay, good. Now kick off the ground. If you're nervous, only go up a little then come back down."  
  
"Alright." She kicked off and rose about ten feet. It looked like she was having trouble keeping the broom steady, and she came back down.  
  
"You look nervous," Draco commented. "You're hands are shaking. Try to relax. I promise you won't fall off. Try again."  
  
Hermione nodded and kicked off again. This time she was steadier and actually started to fly around. She flew around for about fifteen minutes then came down.  
  
"Draco I can fly! I didn't fall off!" she squealed.  
  
"See it's not hard. I don't know why you were so scared."  
  
"Well it was because of Neville back in our first year."  
  
"That kid doesn't know his foot from his ass. How can you expect him to know how to fly?"  
  
Hermione smiled and said, "You're probably right. Flying scared me because of someone who is basically a squib."  
  
Draco laughed and said, "I'll tell you what, if I get enough money for Christmas, I'll buy myself the new Lightning Bolt 420 and give you this broom."  
  
"Okay, that sounds wonderful," Hermione agreed.  
  
When they got back to the common room, Dumbledore was waiting outside by the portrait. "Ah, I was wondering when you'd get back. I need you to plan our Christmas dance. It will be the night before everyone heads back home."  
  
"Yes sir," they said.  
  
"Good night children."  
  
"Good night Professor."  
  
They went into the common room to start planning.  
  
"We should have ice sculptures that won't melt," suggested Hermione.  
  
"Yeah and we should have baby blue fairy lights, and the walls should have ice on them. Hey, we can have a whole ice theme!" Draco said excitedly.  
  
"I like that. We'll make everything out of ice, but we gotta have a warming spell put on the room so it isn't cold. And the floor has to be solid, it can't be ice, for obvious reasons."  
  
"There has to be anti-melt spells on all the ice too," Draco said.  
  
"This sounds good," said Hermione. "We can see Dumbledore tomorrow. He'll probably like the idea. It seems like he's into that kinda weird stuff."  
  
"Okay, tomorrow then. I'm gunna go to bed, I'm beat."  
  
He got up to leave and Hermione put on a pout and said in a fake whining voice, "What, no good night kiss?"  
  
Draco sat back down and embraced her. He kissed her long and deep.  
  
"Better?" he asked.  
  
"Much. Good night Draco."  
  
"Good night Hermione." ~ The next morning, Draco and Hermione went to Dumbledore's as soon as they woke up.  
  
"It's a great idea!" Dumbledore exclaimed. "We haven't ever had a ball like this! It's a marvelous idea."  
  
Draco and Hermione left in high spirits and went to eat breakfast.  
  
"'Mione, I have Quidditch practice after breakfast. Wanna come and watch?" Draco asked.  
  
"Yeah sure. I have nothing better to do anyway."  
  
"Great!"  
  
"Good morning Draco, Hermione," Cephius called as he sat down with Elana.  
  
"Someone's in a good mood," Draco noted.  
  
"Yup. This school is great, so is our house! You know what we talked about all night?"  
  
"I haven't the slightest idea."  
  
"500 ways to kill Harry Potter! It's amazing what some people come up with."  
  
"That's interesting," said Draco. "But we gotta go."  
  
"Where?" asked Elana.  
  
"I have Quidditch practice. You can come if you want."  
  
"Okay," they said.  
  
So the four of them and the rest of the Quidditch team headed out to the field. When they got there, the Gryffindors were already practicing.  
  
"Okay Gryffindors, out! We booked the field three weeks ago!" Draco yelled. "Leave now!"  
  
"And I suppose you're gunna make us, Malfoy?" Harry yelled back. "You and your pathetic little girlfriend, what can you do?"  
  
"More than you think!"  
  
"If you want the field so much, we'll play you for it. If we win, we get the field today and your next practice time. If you win, you get the field today and our next practice time," Harry suggested.  
  
"Fine. Come on guys. We gotta wipe these Gryffindor bitches out once again. When are you gunna get it Potter? We're better than you."  
  
"Shut up, Malfoy. Let's just get this over with."  
  
Hermione, Cephius, and Elana went into the stands as the game started.  
  
Since there was no ref, there were no rules. It was a dirty game. The chasers were taking the beater's clubs and hitting the opposing chasers with them. The beaters would cut in front of the chasers and take the quaffle away. Within ten minutes, the score was ridiculous. It was 170- 150 Slytherin.  
  
All of a sudden, Draco went into a steep dive. Harry followed him. The snitch was hovering two feet above the ground. Draco and Harry were looking at each other. They were each daring the other with their eyes to pull up. Finally, ten feet above the ground, Harry pulled up figuring Draco would follow. It was a suicide wish. At five feet, Draco jumped of his broom and caught the snitch.  
  
"Looks like we won!" Draco announced triumphantly. "Gryffindors get out!"  
  
Draco picked up his broom and mounted it again. The Gryffindors walked off bruised and defeated. They had taken the brunt of the beating.  
  
The Slytherins practiced through lunch and into dinner. A few times during practice, Draco looked down at the stands. Cephius and Elana were making out the whole time and Hermione was sitting a good fifteen feet away from them and a few rows up.  
  
This year, the Slytherins were determined to win. They were sick of Gryffindor beating them (especially Draco). This year it was going to be all Slytherin glory.  
  
They walked into the Great Hall twenty minutes after dinner had started. The team was sweaty and bruised.  
  
Everyone on the Quidditch team plus Hermione, Cephius, Elana, and Blaise sat at the end of the table. They looked up and noticed the Gryffindors giving them death glares. They returned them. ~ The next few weeks went by quickly and it was the Saturday before the Christmas dance. That Saturday, they got to go to Hogsmeade. Unfortunately there was a blizzard and they had to walk through the storm.  
  
Draco, Hermione, Cephius, Elana, and Blaise had their heaviest cloaks wrapped tightly around them and their heads were bent to the oncoming wind.  
  
They found the robe store that they bought their robes for the last dance and headed in. Hermione saw a whole rack of baby blue robes and went over to it. She figured that she'd wear baby blue to match the decorations.  
  
The robes she picked were long sleeved and silk. They were very pretty and made her look like an angel when she tried them on.  
  
Elana and Blaise got similar robes except Elana's were green and Blaise's were navy.  
  
Draco bought silver robes that brought out his eyes and made him look sexy.  
  
Cephius bought black robes so that he and Elana would be in Slytherin colors.  
  
Blaise didn't know who she was going with yet. She just figured that she'd probably just dance with a few of the guys that didn't have a partner. ~ The students were scheduled to go home the next Saturday, so the dance would take place that Friday.  
  
On Tuesday of that week, Draco received an owl from his father.  
  
Dear Draco, I know that you said that you didn't want To come home for Christmas, but your Mother and I would really like to see you. We would also like Hermione to spend Christmas at the Malfoy Manor. Your Mother would like to be properly introduced. Please write back as soon as possible.  
  
Your Father  
  
"'Mione!" Draco called. She was in her room reading.  
  
"What?" she yelled back.  
  
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"  
  
She came down and said, "Sure, what's up?" She sat down on his lap and started brushing his hair out of his eyes.  
  
"I just got an owl from my father. He said that he wanted me and you to go to the Malfoy Manor for Christmas. I know that we planned on staying here, but my mother really wants to meet you and we can stay here for Easter."  
  
"Okay, so we'll go. I've always wanted to see your house anyway. Plus I wouldn't wanna disappoint your father already."  
  
"You sure? I actually expected you to put up a fight," he said.  
  
"What's the use? You would've somehow convinced me into going anyway, so I'll just agree from the start." She smirked at him and her kissed her.  
  
"You know me too well."  
  
He wrote a quick letter back to Lucius.  
  
Father, Hermione and I will be coming back to the Malfoy Manor for the Christmas holidays. Tell Mom that I look forward to seeing her.  
  
Draco ~ On Friday, everyone was excited about the holidays, and everyone above forth year was talking about the dance that would take place that night.  
  
After class, Draco and Hermione headed up to their common room.  
  
"Hey 'Mione, we better get changed. This dance starts earlier than the last one," Draco said.  
  
"Okey dokey," she agreed.  
  
They both went up to their dorms to get ready. Draco changed quickly and headed down to the common room. He knew that Hermione would take some time to get ready, so he started pacing the common room. He was nervous about everything, the night (although he didn't know why) and about vacation.  
  
Hermione came down a half hour later. She looked gorgeous, like an angel.  
  
Draco walked up to her and handed her a single white rose. He said, "For you, Hermione, the angel of my heart." 


	14. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 14  
  
"Why thank you, Draco." She kissed him on the cheek. "Now will my Prince Charming escort me to the dance?"  
  
"Of course, my fair lady."  
  
They linked arms and headed down to the Great Hall. It was just like they had planned it. The whole Hall looked like ice. Every wall was covered and ice sculptures were set up in places where they could be seen without getting in the way.  
  
People were pouring into the Great Hall and standing around in amazement. They had never seen the Hall look so beautiful.  
  
There was a slow song playing. Draco led Hermione onto the dance floor and they began dancing with the music. He held her close as if he never wanted to let her go.  
  
When the song ended, "My Friends Over You" by New Found Glory came on. They danced for hours before they finally got something to drink.  
  
Cephius and Elana were sitting at a table talking, so Draco and Hermione went over to them.  
  
"Hey guys," Cephius and Elana acknowledged.  
  
"Hey how's your night going?" Draco asked.  
  
"Great!" said Elana. "You guys have the greatest dances here."  
  
"Yeah, where does the music come from?" asked Cephius.  
  
"Dumbledore enchanted the walls so they would play music no-stop," said Hermione.  
  
"Can we go dance again, Cephius?" Elana begged.  
  
"Of course! Let's go!" he said smiling.  
  
"Draco, let's go dance again. We've been sitting here long enough." Hermione said.  
  
"Okay, come on."  
  
They went back on the dance floor and didn't stop dancing until the dance was over.  
  
When they got back to the common room, they took showers to cool down and went to bed. ~ "'Mione! 'Mione! Come on, get up!" Draco yelled. She was in a deep sleep and obviously did not want to wake up. "'Mione we got class in three minutes!"  
  
"WHAT?!" she sat up quickly.  
  
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Relax. But we do hafta leave in an hour, and my father will be very, very pissed if we don't go."  
  
"I'll get ready quickly then," she yawned. "I'm so tired."  
  
"Me too," Draco agreed. "But we really do have to go to my house." ~ They were in the carriages, when all of a sudden they came to an abrupt halt. Draco and Hermione heard screams come from other carriages, but they knew what was going on. The Death Eaters had stopped them so they could kill all the muggle-born and muggle-lovers.  
  
They saw a Death Eater look through the window and a few seconds later they were rolling along to the Hogsmeade station.  
  
When they got there, they looked toward the school and saw a big puff of smoke, people running around frantically, and all the Death Eaters running away from curses and hexes.  
  
Hermione and Draco boarded the train and were followed by the students that didn't get killed. Judging by the number of people who were on the train and who was on the train, the Death Eaters did not complete their job.  
  
"Draco, I'm nervous. What if your parents don't like me? Would they kill me?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Hermione, believe me, my parents will love you. And if they didn't, they wouldn't kill you for two reasons. First and foremost, I love you and I will never let them lay a hand on you. The second is, you're Voldemort's daughter and he'd kill them if they harmed you in any way. I promise, you'll be fine."  
  
Hermione nodded and leaned on his chest and fell asleep. An hour later the witch with the cart came by. Draco bought a bunch of candy for him and Hermione to share. When the witch left, Draco shook Hermione awake so they could eat the candy.  
  
The train stopped an hour later and Draco and Hermione got off. They quickly found Lucius and he led them to a black limo.  
  
Hermione was looking out the window and hardly heard Draco say, "We're there."  
  
She got out of the car and looked up at the giant mansion that stood in front of her. It was big and white and looked like ten families should be living there instead of three people and house elves.  
  
"You live here?" she asked unbelievingly.  
  
"Yeah, why? A little bigger than you're used to?"  
  
"The only place that I know of that's bigger is Hogwarts and not by much either."  
  
"Well, we didn't just come here to stand out in the freezing cold to admire my house. Come on inside. Don't worry about your luggage, the house elves will bring your luggage up."  
  
He grabbed her hand and led her to the house. Lucius followed closely behind them. The outside was nothing compared to the inside. The entrance hall was huge and a giant chandelier was hanging from the ceiling. The house was beautifully furnished.  
  
Narcissa greeted them when they walked in. "Oh, Draco, I'm so glad you're back!" she said hugging him. "You never said good bye or wrote to tell me that you were okay. You just took off." She let him go and hit him in the arm and screamed, "NEVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!"  
  
Draco jumped and answered, "I'm sorry, Mom. I just had to take care of some things. I didn't plan on leaving like that, it just kinda happened. Anyway, this is my girlfriend, Hermione Riddle."  
  
Hermione shook her hand and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy."  
  
"Oh please, dear, call me Narcissa."  
  
Hermione nodded and Narcissa spoke to Draco again. "Why don't you show Hermione where she will be staying. It's the room that's right next to yours."  
  
"Yes, Mother."  
  
"And be back down in time for dinner!"  
  
"Yes, Mom." He smiled a sweet innocent smile that was also very fake and led Hermione to the elevator.  
  
"She seems nice," Hermione commented.  
  
"Yeah, sometimes she's a little too nice. If she gets mad though you'd better get out of the way. Floor eight." He commanded the elevator.  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"'Cause she's a lot stronger than she looks." Draco saw the scared look on Hermione's face. "Don't worry, she doesn't get mad often. Only when Father comes home drunk, or I get a bad grade, or I confuse the house elves into doing things they're not supposed to do so I can watch them beat themselves up."  
  
"Draco, that's horrible!" she said as they got out of the elevator.  
  
"What? Making house elves beat themselves up? It's actually quite entertaining," he said with a smirk.  
  
Hermione just rolled her eyes and followed him down the hall. They passed a series of doors before Draco pointed and said, "This is my room." Then they walked to the next door and he said, "And this is yours."  
  
He opened her door for her. The room was more like a living room than a bedroom. There was a fireplace and couches and chairs, it even had a balcony outside. The only reason it could be classified as a living room was because of the king-sized bed.  
  
Hermione was speechless. Her trunk had already been bought up and her clothes were in a wardrobe in the corner. After a few minutes Hermione said, "This is a bedroom?"  
  
"Well yeah. There's a bed and this is a room," Draco answered sarcastically. "And all this time I thought you were the smartest witch in our year. What was I thinking? Maybe I should write Dumbledore and have him take your Head Girl badge away."  
  
"HaHaHa! Oh my God Draco! You are just so funny. You're like the funniest guy I've ever met. Oh man, that was so funny. I think I'm gunna die of laughter. HaHaHa!"  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"Why would I do that? I don't wanna give you the pleasure of bossing me around, so I think I'll just-"  
  
She never got to finish the sentence because Draco's lips were on top of hers.  
  
They broke apart quickly. Draco said, "If you don't wanna listen to me, you have to suffer the consequences."  
  
"I wouldn't exactly call that suffering. That was actually rather enjoyable."  
  
"I have ways to make you suffer, but you're not gunna find out.yet." An evil smirk played across his lips.  
  
"DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY!" Lucius' voice bellowed. "GET DOWN HERE, NOW! IT'S TIME FOR DINNER!"  
  
"Yes, Father," Draco said.  
  
"Are you sure he heard that?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Yup. When he needs me, he puts a charm on the house that makes his voice and mine audible no matter what room we're in."  
  
"Oh okay."  
  
Draco and Hermione headed downstairs once again so they could have a nice normal meal at the Malfoy Manor.  
  
Okay, so dinner at the Malfoy Manor wasn't exactly "normal." It consisted of the three Malfoys (and now Hermione) sitting in a large dining room and no one speaking. The only time anyone talked was to order food and drink that were sent up from the kitchens. Everyone looked totally comfortable except Hermione. She thought the silence was a little overbearing, but wouldn't say anything.  
  
After dinner, Lucius left the house without saying a word.  
  
"Is dinner always that quiet?" Hermione asked once they were in Draco's room.  
  
"Yeah. It's been like that ever since I could remember. I remember asking why it was like that when I was seven. My Father hit me across the face and said, 'Cause it is!' Well since then, I haven't said a word at dinner."  
  
"Oh." Hermione looked down at her hands. "Has your father always hit you?"  
  
"Yeah, but as I got older, they got more brutal. Now he uses the Cruciatus Curse on me when it's a 'major offense.' When it's a smaller offense, he just beats me." Draco looked uncomfortable and Hermione noticed this.  
  
"Have you told anyone this?" she asked.  
  
"No, he said he'd kill me if I did."  
  
"Oh, Draco, I'm so sorry."  
  
She put her arms around him and he put his head on her shoulder. They stayed like that for a while until he heard a loud, booming voice.  
  
"DRACO GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE, NOW!"  
  
"I'm coming," he answered.  
  
"Draco don't go," Hermione begged.  
  
"I have to, he's drunk and if he comes up here, he'll hit you too. I'll be back in a few minutes."  
  
Draco got up and went downstairs, and was greeted by a very drunk Lucius. Lucius raised his hand and hit him in the face. Draco didn't flinch, so Lucius punched him in the stomach. Again, he didn't move. Draco was taught never to show pain. Lucius saw this and kicked Draco hard in the back of the knee. Draco fell and grabbed his leg.  
  
"Never show pain!" Lucius roared and started kicking Draco. By the time he was finished, Draco had cuts and bruises all over his body, a bloody nose and lip, and a black eye.  
  
After five minutes of lying on the floor, Draco stood up and with some difficulty made his way over to the elevator and up to his room.  
  
When he got there, Hermione was pacing and he threw himself down on his bed. "Hermione, can you help me."  
  
"Draco, what happened?" She was very shocked at his appearance and had tears in her eyes.  
  
"Just help me. Please get a wet towel."  
  
Hermione went across to the bathroom, wet a towel and then brought it back to Draco and started dabbing his lip and nose. Within seconds, the towel was totally red.  
  
Once his nose and lip stopped bleeding, Draco took off his shirt and started looking at the bruises he had just been given. There were bruises covering his entire chest and back.  
  
"Do you know a spell to get rid of them?" he asked. Hermione nodded, took his wand and performed a healing spell. All the bruises quickly dissolved. "Thank you so much."  
  
Again, Hermione nodded and asked, "Why does he do that?"  
  
"I don't know. I guess to show that he has power over me. He thinks he's superior to everyone and I used to think that I was too. I used to want to be just like him and I guess I am in some ways: I'm alleged to Voldemort.okay, maybe that's the only thing we have in common. The truth is I don't wanna be like him. I swore to myself when I was nine that I'd never hit my kids or my wife, and I'm sticking to that promise."  
  
He lay back down on his bed and Hermione crawled up next to him. "Can I stay here tonight?"  
  
Draco nodded and wrapped his arms around her. ~ The next morning, Draco woke up and felt something warm against his body. He opened his eyes and saw Hermione curled up against him, and the memories of what had happened the previous night came flooding back to him. He kissed the top of her head and her eyes fluttered opened.  
  
"'Morning," she said looking up into his silver eyes.  
  
"G'morning" he answered.  
  
"How are you feeling?" she asked.  
  
"Like it never even happened, thanks to you." He smiled down at her and she cuddled up closer to him.  
  
"I love Draco Malfoy," she whispered.  
  
"I love you too, Hermione Riddle." 


	15. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 15  
  
Ten minutes later, Draco got up and took a shower. He dressed and waited for Hermione to finish.  
  
They walked downstairs for breakfast, but before they went into the dining room, Narcissa grabbed them. "Did your father beat you again last night?" Draco looked down at the floor but didn't answer. I saw blood on the carpet. Don't try to protect him, Draco."  
  
"I'm not, Mom." He looked up into her eyes.  
  
"So did he hit you?"  
  
"Yes. He beat me till my nose and lip were bleeding and my eye was black and I had bruises all over my body! There! Are you happy now? Can we eat now?" he yelled, getting annoyed. He hated talking about his beatings.  
  
"It doesn't look like he got you that bad," Narcissa noted.  
  
"If you don't know, here's a little news flash for ya. I'm dating the smartest witch in the school. She knows all those spells to get rid of bruises. Now, can Hermione and I please eat?"  
  
"Fine. But why do you always blow me off when he hits you?"  
  
"Maybe because I hate talking about it, okay? I hate when he hits me! I hate when he makes me feel like I'm a little kid! I hate it that no matter what he does I can't answer him! I hate him and I never wanna be like him!" Draco yelled.  
  
He turned to look at Hermione. She was standing there, stiff as a board, with wide eyes. Then he looked down at his hand that was holding Hermione's. It was crushing her fingers together and obviously causing her a lot of pain.  
  
"I'm so sorry," he said letting go. He was so shocked. He didn't even realize that he was gripping her hand so tight. "'Mione, are you okay?"  
  
She nodded slightly and looked down at her hand. She was able to mover her fingers, which meant that nothing was broken. "I'm fine. What about you? I've never seen you that angry. I'm actually scared."  
  
"I'll be okay," he reassured her. "I don't wanna scare you."  
  
She nodded and they walked into the dining room to eat breakfast. Breakfast was much more enjoyable than dinner. Draco and Hermione were the only two there, and they talked.  
  
"Do you always fight with your parents?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Not always, but sometimes. As you probably figured out, I don't like to talk about when my father beats me. And I only told you because you deserve to know. I don't wanna keep anything from you."  
  
"I won't keep anything from you either. You're the only person that knows I've cut myself. I don't think I'd be able to lie to you anyway."  
  
"Hey, I'm going to Diagon Alley today to get your Christmas present. You wanna come with me? Of course we'll have to split up and bring back packs to put each other's gift in. After we're done we could we could get lunch at the Leaky Cauldron," Draco suggested.  
  
"Yeah, sure."  
  
After breakfast, they headed up to Draco's room. They were using his fireplace to floo.  
  
Hermione went first. She threw the powder in and when the flames turned green, she said very clearly, "Diagon Alley!"  
  
After she was gone, Draco did the same and a few seconds later, he came out in Madame Malkin's.  
  
Draco turned to Hermione and said, "Meet me in the Leaky Cauldron at two."  
  
"Okay. I'll see you then."  
  
They kissed quickly and then headed their separate directions. ~ At two, Draco headed for the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione was already at a booth waiting for him. Draco spotted her and headed over to where she was.  
  
They both had backpacks that held each other's present. Draco placed his on the booth next to him.  
  
"So what'd you get me?" he asked with an innocent smile.  
  
"Nothing. What'd you get me?"  
  
"Well if you got me nothing, then I got you nothing."  
  
"Fine. That's fair."  
  
They ordered their food and ate without much talking. This time, however, Hermione wasn't uncomfortable. She was actually happy for the silence. It was pleasant enough just to be in each other's company.  
  
When they finished, Draco paid and asked Tom if he could use his fireplace. Tom said they could, and Draco and Hermione headed back to the Malfoy Manor.  
  
They came out in the main fireplace and were heading to the elevator and heard Lucius call from his office, "Draco, come in here for a minute. We need to talk."  
  
"Yes, Father. I'll be right there." He saw Hermione's eyes get wide and said to her, "I'll be fine. It can't be anything too serious or he would have used that stupid charm, even though I am right in front of his office. Go up to my room. I'll be up there in no more than five minutes."  
  
Hermione nodded and did as she was told, even though she was reluctant. Draco headed into Lucius' office to see what he wanted.  
  
"You called me, Father."  
  
"Yes. Did you tell your mother what happened?" Draco looked down. "How many times have I told you not to tell her? When you do, she comes to me and gets all teary eyed. You can't tell her!" he roared.  
  
"It wasn't my fault," Draco answered calmly. "She saw the blood, she knew what happened and I wasn't gunna tell her, but I got mad and slipped. I swear, I wasn't planning on saying anything."  
  
"You have to learn to bite your tongue, Draco! And you're supposed to obey your Father! I'll teach you!"  
  
He punched Draco in the cheek and a bruise began to form. "I can see that you're becoming resistant to pain," Lucius commented, and punched him in the side.  
  
Draco gritted his teeth and stood still, looking straight ahead and hating his father more with every passing second.  
  
Seeing Draco's lack of reaction, Lucius kicked out his legs and then began kicking his face and legs.  
  
After a few minutes of kicking, Lucius commanded Draco to get up, and he did as he was told. "Now get out of my sight and never mention a word of this to anyone."  
  
"Yes sir." Draco turned and left. He looked worse than he had the night before. His nose and lip were bleeding again, but he also had blood dripping down his face from under his silver-blonde hair. He could feel the bruises forming on his back and chest.  
  
Hermione figured that since Draco hadn't come back yet that he had been beaten again. She already had a wet towel and her wand ready when Draco came in and lay down on his bed.  
  
This time Hermione healed his bruises and cuts first, then cleaned the blood out of his face and hair.  
  
"I hate him," Draco stated simply. "He beat me 'cause Mom found out. I don't know what the hell his problem is. Some days I wish I would just die. I hate coming home. When I graduate, I'm taking you and we're gunna live in a big house in the middle of nowhere. No one is gunna know where we live. The only way that people we know will be able to get in and out is to either floo or apparate."  
  
Hermione smiled and lay down with her head on his chest. "I'd like that," she said.  
  
Draco smiled and began to absent-mindedly stroke her hair. "My goal for the rest of vacation is to not get my father mad. I don't wanna get beat again. I don't like having you see me like that. I know how much it hurts you to see me all bruised and bloody."  
  
"He scares me. My father doesn't even scare me that much. I'm afraid that if I'm not careful, he'll hit me like he hits you. I know that my father won't do that to me, but I'm not sure about yours."  
  
"'Mione, I would never let him touch you, EVER! I promise, he won't come near you, okay?"  
  
Hermione stayed quiet and just listened to the sound of his heartbeat, she found it very comforting. ~ Two days later it was Christmas, and Draco had managed to stay out of Lucius' way. Hermione had been staying in Draco's room at night because she felt protected when Draco was around.  
  
She woke up with Draco's strong arms around her and wriggled free so she could brush her teeth and go to her room to get his present.  
  
When she got back his eyes were opened.  
  
"Merry Christmas, 'Mione."  
  
"Merry Christmas, Draco." She went back to his bed and kissed him.  
  
She pulled a long, slender box out from behind her back. It was wrapped in very pretty silver paper.  
  
"What's this?"  
  
"A box filled with tissue paper," she answered sarcastically.  
  
"Really? That's just what I've always wanted!! How the hell did you guess?"  
  
They both started laughing as he began to pull the paper off. He lifted the lid off the box and inside laid the new Lightning Bolt 420. Draco's eyes almost popped out of his head and he looked from the broom to Hermione and from Hermione to the broom."  
  
"H-How'd you get this? It's like 300 galleons!"  
  
"Well I've been saving my money since I started at Hogwarts. I was planning on using it for a special occasion and in my mind this is a special occasion."  
  
"Thank you so much." He hugged her so tight that she could hardly breathe.  
  
"Draco you're killing me."  
  
"Oh right, sorry."  
  
"That's okay."  
  
"Listen, I can't give you your gift in here. Get dressed and meet me by the back door downstairs."  
  
Hermione got curious, so she ran to her room to get dressed.  
  
Draco did a quick changing spell and ran outside to set everything up.  
  
When Hermione got outside, she didn't find Draco, she found a note.  
  
Follow the roses. Tow for every year that I've loved you. One for each month we've been together. You'll find me under the largest tree in the Most secluded part of the forest that is straight ahead.  
  
Hermione followed the instructions and picked up the roses as she went along. She picked up eleven and ended up near a large tree and Draco was leaning up against it, smiling.  
  
"Okay, so now that we're out here, what's this all about?" she asked.  
  
"It's about this." He stepped up to her and kissed her. It was a very passionate kiss that clearly said that he loved her and wanted to be with her forever.  
  
"Hermione, I love you with all my heart, and I know that you love me. I know we haven't been dating very long, but I definitely know that I can't live without you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He got down on one knee and pulled a small box out of his pocket. "Hermione Ann Riddle, will you marry me?"  
  
"Yes! Oh my God, yes!!" She had tears of joy streaming down her face as Draco placed the ring on her finger. The ring was gold and had a single diamond in it.  
  
She pulled him up off the ground and kissed him. A light snow began to fall around them. So far, it was turning out to be the perfect Christmas.  
  
After an hour of just holding each other, they went back inside. Their hair had snow in it, but neither one of them was in the slightest bit cold.  
  
They walked into the living room and Narcissa asked, "Where were you? You're both covered in snow. Aren't you cold? What were you doing?"  
  
"Mom, chill out. We're not cold. We were out in the forest, and I was giving Hermione he Christmas present."  
  
"Which is?"  
  
"We're engaged."  
  
"Oh, I'm so happy for the both of you!" she squealed. She looked at the ring on Hermione's hand. "That is such a lovely ring. Where'd you buy it, Draco?"  
  
"In Diagon Alley."  
  
"How much was it?" she asked.  
  
"That's not important, but if you really must know, it was 400 galleons."  
  
Hermione didn't think that he'd spend that much money just on a ring, and then the roses, and then building up the courage to ask, and then setting everything up in less than five minutes. "You didn't have that," Hermione said quietly.  
  
"And you didn't have to buy me a new broom."  
  
"What broom?" Narcissa asked.  
  
"I bought him the Lightning Bolt 420," Hermione answered.  
  
"Those are like 300 galleons!" Narcissa almost yelled.  
  
Both Draco and Hermione were getting embarrassed. "Listen, Mom, we're gunna go back upstairs."  
  
"You can go after you open the rest of your presents."  
  
"Okay," they said together.  
  
Draco got a new set of Quidditch balls from his parents, and the key to a new house in a very remote area for when he got out of school. He also got candy from Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle.  
  
The Malfoys bought Hermione an invisibility cloak. She thanked them about a million times. She wasn't expecting to get anything else, but there were two other packages with her name on them. The first was from Voldemort. It was a green bracelet and was made out of all expensive green gems. On each gem was a silver snake. The other box was bigger. There was a card on it. She opened the card first, it said:  
  
Slytherin Bitch, We hope you have a horrible Christmas and you Rot in the Malfoy Manor. We thought that you'd Appreciate this. It's slimy and slithers around, Just like you. Enjoy your new.pet.  
  
Signed, The Gryffindor House.  
  
Every Gryffindor had signed it. Hermione wasn't fazed, but Draco looked like he wanted to kill every one of them.  
  
Hermione unwrapped the package and revealed a large glass cage with a black snake that was patterned with green and silver diamonds.  
  
"He's really pretty," she said.  
  
"Don't touch it yet. It may be poisonous or charmed so that when something goes in the cage he'll kill it. We can bring it upstairs and do spells that will make sure he's not."  
  
Hermione nodded and they grabbed their gifts and brought them up to Draco's room.  
  
Draco conjured up a rat and threw it in the cage. As soon as the snake saw it coming down, he picked up his head and caught it before it could reach the bottom. It clamped its jaws down and swallowed it.  
  
"Well he looked hungry," Draco commented. "Imagine if that was your hand. They probably charmed it to kill anything that goes in the cage."  
  
Draco took out his wand and muttered a few spells. It's eyes changed from a bright red to a gentle blue.  
  
"It's changing," said Hermione. "Its eyes turned blue and his fangs aren't as long, and they're dry, there's nothing dripping off them."  
  
"I told you they did something to him." He dropped in another rat, but the snake hardly noticed. "You can pick him up now."  
  
Hermione put her hand in the cage and pulled the snake out. He began crawling up her arm, around her neck and down her other arm.  
  
"I like him. I think I'll name him Salazar." 


	16. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 16  
  
"Salazar. I like that name," Draco said.  
  
"You would," Hermione answered.  
  
"I do."  
  
"Shut up, Draco," Hermione said lazily as she watched the snake crawl all over her.  
  
"Make me."  
  
Hermione pulled his shirt so that their faces were only a few inches apart and started kissing him. Salazar wiggled his way off of her with some difficulty and Draco laid her down on the bed. Draco's hands began to roam and Hermione broke her mouth away from his.  
  
"Draco, I'm not ready."  
  
"I know. I'm not planning on going all the way. Not yet," he said and began kissing her neck.  
  
Hermione began running her fingers through his silky smooth, silver-blonde hair.  
  
After a while, he stopped kissing her neck and moved back to her mouth.  
  
When he was finally out of breath, he broke away and said, "We're going to dinner tonight. I made reservations at this really nice, wizard restaurant."  
  
"For what time?"  
  
"Seven, and its just gunna be me and you. My parents are staying here. They don't go out together too often and for some weird reason, they like to eat in total silence."  
  
"Good. The silence is so unnerving. And I'm guessing that since it is a 'nice wizard restaurant' I'm gunna hafta wear dress robes. Am I correct?"  
  
"Yes you are. Of course you're always right, though. What did your nickname used to be? Know-it-all-Granger, Ms. Perfect, then there was the al famous Mudblood, Gryffindor-Know-it-all-Mudblood Bitch, and then-"  
  
"Who called me that?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"The last one you said."  
  
"Um, the Slytherins, I guess. I don't know if that one ever reached the other Houses. I guess not since you never heard about it," Draco shrugged.  
  
"Yeah, well now I'm Slytherin Bitch. That was the title we had given to Pansy back in fifth year. By we, I mean the Gryffindor House."  
  
"Yeah, I kinda got that from what Potthead and Weasel said. That title really is perfect for Pansy though. She is the biggest bitch/slut in the House and probably in the entire school."  
  
They both laughed at this comment. ~ At six, Hermione started to get ready, and at 6:30 Draco did.  
  
At 6:50, they flooed over to the restaurant. Draco was right it was really nice. The only light came from the small, ever-burning candles that were on each table.  
  
"Good evening. Do you have reservations?" asked a small man in a black suit.  
  
"Yes. Malfoy," Draco answered.  
  
"Ah, yes. Here you are. Right this way, please."  
  
Hermione and Draco followed the man to a booth in a corner on the far side of the restaurant. It was rather secluded, but they didn't mind.  
  
"Thank you," said Hermione as he handed her the menu. When the man left, she asked Draco, "Is this one of those places where you tell your plate what you want and it just appears?"  
  
"Of course! Only the best restaurants are like that, and I only take you to the best places."  
  
She just smiled and told her plate what she wanted. Draco did the same and their food was set before them.  
  
"Hey, you wanna see something funny?" Draco asked Hermione.  
  
"Um, okay."  
  
"Red wine," he commanded the table.  
  
Instead of a glass of red wine, a card appeared, it said:  
  
NO! You're not 21.  
  
"And how would you know that?" Draco asked.  
  
A copy of his birth certificate came up and the date was circled.  
  
"And where'd you get that?"  
  
A picture of Narcissa appeared and another card that read:  
  
You've been here before, Stupid. What do you think we are?  
  
"House elves," Draco muttered.  
  
Then a picture of a house elf with his tongue sticking out popped up.  
  
"Draco, you're retarded," Hermione laughed.  
  
"I try," Draco responded with a grin.  
  
Hermione just rolled her eyes and continued eating.  
  
The food was very good. Both Draco and Hermione enjoyed every minute of their dinner. They talked and laughed the whole time.  
  
After dinner, they took a walk around the small village they were in. They came across a park and sat down on a bench facing a small lake. The moon and stars were shining brightly, and it began to snow.  
  
"Draco, I'm freezing," Hermione mumbled.  
  
Draco did a warming charm and they warmed up drastically.  
  
After a while, they went back to the restaurant and flooed back to Draco's room in the Malfoy Manor.  
  
Hermione went into her room to put on her pajamas and then went back into Draco's room. She found him already crawled up in his bed and watching the door for her. When he saw her, he shifted over and she crawled up next to him.  
  
"Merry Christmas, 'Mione."  
  
"Merry Christmas, Draco."  
  
They kissed quickly before falling into a deep sleep. ~  
  
Five days later, it was New Year's and there was a party at the Malfoy Manor. Both Hermione and Draco got drunk and at about two blacked out. ~ Two days later, they headed back to King's Cross Station. Lucius rode back with them in the limo said a quick good bye and then left again. He didn't even wait until the train left.  
  
Draco and Hermione found a small compartment to have all to themselves. A few minutes before the train was about to leave, a little first year Hufflepuff walked in.  
  
"Ex-excuse me, but can I s-sit here? The other compartments are f-full," he stuttered.  
  
"No," Draco said calmly. "I'm sure you can find someone else to sit with. Besides as Head Boy and Girl, we need our privacy."  
  
The boy looked down and just stood there. "Get out!" Draco said louder. The boy jumped and ran away.  
  
They both laughed at the little boy's reaction.  
  
"See, you truly are a Slytherin," Draco joked.  
  
"Good, I'd hate to go back to that Know-it-all-Gryffindor stage."  
  
"Don't say that. I fell in love with that Know-it-all-Gryffindor before I knew you were a pureblood. But you know, since you're not a Mudblood, and you're a Slytherin, I love you even more."  
  
"I love you too," Hermione answered. ~ They got back to the school around 5 pm.  
  
Cephius, Elana, and Blaise met Draco and Hermione in the Great Hall.  
  
"Hey guys!" Blaise yelled as soon as she saw them.  
  
"Hey Blaise, Cephius, Elana," Hermione and Draco said when they sat down.  
  
"How was your break?" asked Cephius.  
  
"You wanna tell them?" Draco whispered to Hermione.  
  
"No, you tell them," Hermione answered.  
  
"Alright." He turned back to the other three who were waiting very impatiently for an answer. "We're engaged!"  
  
"Oh my God! Congratulations!" Elana yelled loudly.  
  
"Congratulations! Oh that is so adorable!" Blaise added.  
  
"Yeah, congratulations, guys!" Cephius smiled at them. Like a typical guy, he was playing it all cool and everything.  
  
Some people around the Great Hall were looking over at the Slytherin table trying to figure out why the hell they all looked so happy and why they had true smiles planted on their faces. Some people were actually scared, they never saw the Slytherins smile; all they ever did was smirk.  
  
After dinner, Cephius, Elana, Draco, Hermione, and Blaise headed up to the heads common room.  
  
They sat down and started talking. "Oh I almost forgot!" Draco said getting up and hurrying up to his room.  
  
"What's wrong, Draco?" Hermione asked.  
  
He didn't answer, just opened the door to his room and headed in. Draco ducked under his bed and grabbed a box.  
  
No one was talking when Draco came down; they were all staring at him. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Hermione, I believe I promised you this."  
  
Hermione looked at him and took the box. She pulled the top off and saw a neatly polished, finely trimmed Nimbus 2001.  
  
"Oh Draco, I totally forgot about this!" Hermione said.  
  
"So you want me to take it back?" he smirked.  
  
"What? No! Are you crazy? Thank you so much!" She pulled Draco into a tight hug.  
  
"Okay, 'Mione. I get it. Okay, you can let me go, now. You're gunna kill me," he choked.  
  
"Sorry." She smiled sweetly and the other three laughed at them.  
  
"Can we go flying tomorrow?" Hermione asked Draco when Cephius, Elana, and Blaise left.  
  
"Yeah, sure. We don't have any classes tomorrow anyway."  
  
"Cool. Well I'm gunna go to bed now. Good night."  
  
"Good night, Hermione."  
  
Once Hermione went up to her room, Draco went to his. He lay down, but couldn't get to sleep. He felt empty without Hermione's body in his arms.  
  
"Maybe I should go over there," he thought. "What if she's sleeping? I wouldn't wanna wake her up. But what if she can't sleep either? Would she come over here? Alright, I'm going over there."  
  
Just as he was about to go over, his door opened and Hermione climbed into his bed and crawled up against his chest. "I couldn't sleep," she said.  
  
"Me either. I was just gunna go over to your room, but I was having a mental argument."  
  
"Those are always fun." She smiled and closed her eyes. Draco closed his eyes too and fell into a deep sleep. 


	17. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 17  
  
"Ready to go?" Draco asked.  
  
"Yup, come on," Hermione answered.  
  
They grabbed their brooms and headed out to the Quidditch field.  
  
Hermione was flying well now and Draco absolutely loved the feel of his new broom. After just flying for a while, they started to play tag.  
  
"You're it to start," Hermione said. "I'll never be able to see you let alone try to catch up to you."  
  
"That's fair," Draco agreed. "And I'll even give you a twenty second head start and I'll close my eyes so I don't know which direction you go in."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Draco closed his eyes and Hermione took off as he began counting. Twenty seconds later, Draco opened his eyes and saw Hermione off in the distance by the Forbidden Forest.  
  
He instantly started speeding toward her. Hermione turned around and saw him coming. She turned and headed another direction as fast as she could. In a few short seconds, she felt a tap on her shoulder and saw Draco pass her, smirking.  
  
She lay flat to her broom so she could get the maximum amount of speed that it would allow. Even doing this, she wasn't half as fast as Draco and he was riding normally.  
  
Draco looked back and saw how far behind Hermione was and stopped. He looked at his watch and pretended to yawn. Hermione tried to glare at him, but ended up laughing instead.  
  
When she was about five feet away from him, he took off and headed for the Quidditch field. He landed lightly on the ground and waited for Hermione.  
  
She showed up a few seconds later. Her face was red and she was laughing.  
  
"I give up!" She yelled as she approached him.  
  
"I figured," he said with a smirk.  
  
When they walked in, the Gryffindor Quidditch team was walking out. Hermione noticed Harry and Ron glaring at her. Hermione said, "Hey guys! Thanks for Salazar. He really is an adorable snake. Next time you wanna try killing me, send something that isn't so harmless and cute."  
  
This only made the Gryffindors glare more. "Nice try though Potthead, Weasel, all of you really. It really was. We have Salazar slithering around our dorm right now if you wanna come up and visit him." He smirked at them and he and Hermione headed inside.  
  
"Did you see their faces when they saw us here?" Hermione laughed.  
  
"Yeah, they were so shocked. They really are stupid, though. Obviously we're the smartest students in the school and we can figure out when they do something that stupid."  
  
"I don't wanna think about them. Let's talk about something else," Hermione said looking disgusted. "Darkness is Forever."  
  
"Okay." Draco sat down on the couch and pulled Hermione down on his lap. "How 'bout we talk about wedding preparations?"  
  
"Alright."  
  
For the next few hours they talked about what kind of flowers they wanted and where to have it and where they decided that they wanted to go to Hawaii for their honeymoon. ~ We have to go down to dinner now," Draco said.  
  
"But it's so much nicer up here."  
  
"Yeah, but I'm really hungry and we missed lunch. Come on." Before she could protest, he got up, grabbed her hand, and dragged her out of the common room.  
  
At the table, Elana asked, "Where were you guys all day?"  
  
"We went flying for a few hours, ran into the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and spent the rest of the day in the common room," Hermione answered.  
  
"Ooh, spending the whole day in the common room after getting all dirty and sweaty from flying. You bad, bad people," Cephius joked.  
  
Draco laughed and said, "No, nothing like that. We're not like you two." He looked up and smirked at Cephius and Elana. "We were planning our wedding."  
  
"Planning your wedding when you could be having hot, steamy sex. What's wrong with you?" Blaise shook her head in fake disgust.  
  
"You guys are all sick!" Hermione said.  
  
"Of course we are," Cephius agreed. Then he put on an innocent smile and said, "But that's why we're oh so fun to hang out with."  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to the food that was on her dish. They joked around for the rest of dinner and nearly started a food fight.  
  
When Draco and Hermione got back to the common room, Lucius' owl was sitting on one of the desks. Draco untied the letter from its leg. It said:  
  
Draco and Hermione, There will be a meeting on Friday. Although what will be going on does Not involve you, you must be there. It is at the same place as last time. Make sure you tell the other two. You know whom I'm talking about. I will see you on Friday.  
  
Lucius  
  
"This has something to do with the day we went home for break," Draco said. "They didn't kill anybody and now the people who were there are definitely gunna be put under the Cruciatus Curse."  
  
Hermione winced at the mention of the curse. "I hate that curse," she stated. "I hate the way it makes the receiver look and I can't begin to fathom how it must feel."  
  
"It hurts more than you could imagine. You can't even shed a tear because of the amount of pain it causes. We shouldn't talk about this. You wanna study or something."  
  
"We haven't even gone to any classes yet. Why bother studying?"  
  
"Who are you and what have you done with my Hermione? I think I'm gunna have a heart attack. Hermione Riddle doesn't wanna study. What's going on?"  
  
"I'm not in the mood."  
  
"Okay, something must be really wrong. You're always in the mood to study." Draco looked over at her. She was sitting on the couch, hugging her knees to her chest and her head was on her knees. "Hermione, what's wrong?"  
  
"I don't know. I don't really feel good," she answered.  
  
Draco sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. "Are you tired? Do you wanna lie down?"  
  
She nodded. "Can we go to bed?"  
  
"Yeah, come on. Let's go upstairs."  
  
Draco stood up and Hermione after him. They walked up to Draco's room and lay down on his bed. As soon as Hermione's head hit the pillow, she fell asleep.  
  
Draco put his arms around her and fell asleep a few minutes later ~ The next morning, they woke up to a very loud, very annoying alarm clock. "GOOOOOOD MORNING!" it screeched. "TIME TO GET UP!!!"  
  
Hermione jumped at the sound and Draco moaned.  
  
"Draco, what the hell is that?" Hermione screamed.  
  
"My alarm clock. Sorry, it's one of the only things that gets me up in the morning," he mumbled.  
  
"That's alright." She paused and then said. "Sorry about last night. I wasn't feeling too well. I think something in the food got to me."  
  
"That's okay. I just got kinda scared when you said that you didn't wanna study. I never thought I'd hear those words come out of your mouth."  
  
Hermione giggled a little. "I never thought I'd hear myself say that either. When I was in Gryffindor, I only said that I wanted to study to get away from them. I knew that none of them would follow me to the library."  
  
"Oh, so when you say that you wanna study, you wanna get away from me?"  
  
"NO! I love you and I hate being away from you. I said that to get away from them, but when I say that to you, it means that I wanna study with you."  
  
"Oh, so the only thing you ever wanna do with me is study?" Draco asked.  
  
"Don't be putting words into my mouth, Draco Malfoy. I never said that."  
  
Draco smirked and said, "Well I gotta get dressed now. Unless of course you'd like to stay."  
  
"Maybe I do wanna stay," she said as she was retreating out the door.  
  
Draco shook his head and started to change his clothes. ~ The beginning of the day went by quickly and soon it was time for lunch.  
  
"We got Potions today!" Draco said happily.  
  
"As long as I'm not paired with some stupid Gryffindor, I'm fine with that," Blaise added.  
  
"We haven't had any classes with the Gryffindors yet today. I wonder what they'll say when they see my ring," Hermione thought out loud.  
  
"They'll probably go ballistic," Cephius said.  
  
"Yeah, especially Potthead and Weasel," added Elana. "Have you seen the way they've been glaring over here?" she nodded toward the Gryffindor table. "It's like they're trying to kill someone with their eyes."  
  
"They do want someone dead," Draco said glaring back at them. "They want Hermione dead. That whole fucking House sent her a poisonous snake for Christmas."  
  
"No way!" yelled Cephius. "Can't they get expelled for that?"  
  
"There's no proof. We did the spells to take the poison out of it. We can't do anything about it unless they make a blatant attempt to attack," Draco explained.  
  
"That's so screwed up. How could anyone be so stupid?" Blaise said.  
  
Everyone just shook their heads and walked out of the Great Hall with everyone else. They headed toward the dungeons and were greeted by the Gryffindors when they got there.  
  
"Malfoy, Granger, what are you guys doing here?" Harry sneered.  
  
"The snake was adorable Potter. Where'd you get him? And how long did it take you to figure out the spells that would make him poisonous?" Hermione said coldly.  
  
"Wow, Granger, it seems that you really were meant to be a Slytherin. I'm hurt. I thought that you really were one of us. You were always the perfect Gryffindor. I thought wrong. You're just like them, lousy, no good, slimy, st-What the hell is that?!" Ron screamed. He was looking down at Hermione's left hand that was hanging by her side.  
  
"That, Weasley, is an engagement ring. I thought that you, being the muggle-lover that you are would know what it is," Draco said as he tried to push past, but failed.  
  
"Who gave you that ring?" Parvati asked. "Who would spend so much money on that?"  
  
"I gave it to her. Who else would?" Draco's voice was like ice. "We're getting married because we love each other. Now, if you don't mind, let us through!"  
  
"NO!" Ron interjected loudly.  
  
"No, Weasley? I can kick your ass from here to hell and back. I'd move if I were you."  
  
"I'm not moving." Ron stood his ground.  
  
"If you don't move, I'll make you move," Cephius said threateningly.  
  
"Oh, Malfoy, you get a new guy to do your dirty work?" Harry asked.  
  
"I don't need anyone to do anything for me. I could kick all your asses right now, and I would if I wasn't Head Boy. No offense, Cephius."  
  
"None taken."  
  
"Listen, Ferret, I don't care what you can do. All I want is Hermione and I refuse to let you marry her," Ron said.  
  
"Ron I hate you. Don't you get it? Draco and I are meant to be together. I am marrying the man I love, and I don't need anyone's permission but mine. Now let me through, I have a class to get through," Hermione commanded.  
  
She pulled Draco into the classroom with her and the Slytherins followed while the Gryffindors looked dumbfounded. Hermione and Draco took their seats in the back of the room, and Elana, Cephius, and Blaise sat on the other side of them.  
  
After everyone was sitting, Snape came in and began the lesson. "Today we will be making the strongest truth potion imaginable." He started telling them what they needed to know about the potion and then said, "I'll be giving you partners. Malfoy, Granger; Weasley, Potter; Blacktree, Jenkins; Finnigan, Patil; Zabini, Goyle," and so on until everyone had a partner. This time, the Slytherins were paired with each other, and the Gryffindors with each other. After Snape read the essays from the previous assignment, he decided to pair them up with people they got along with.  
  
Draco and Hermione collected all the ingredients they needed to make the potion and started right away.  
  
"Do you think Snape was afraid of the essays?" Hermione whispered to Draco.  
  
"I wouldn't doubt it. I mean, we told him what people had running through their minds. It was torture having to hear another person's thoughts, imagine having to know what everyone thinks. That must have been hell!" he answered while throwing crocodile eyes into the potion.  
  
"Yeah, that must have sucked," Hermione agreed. She threw some neatly cut roots into the potion and started stirring it.  
  
Their potions wouldn't be ready by the time Potions was over that day, so they stored them in a cabinet that protected all of the potions was everything. Nothing could be put into them while they were in there, and the only person who could take it out was the one who put it in.  
  
"My next game's on Saturday," Draco said when they got back in the common room.  
  
"Who are you playing?"  
  
"Ravenclaw."  
  
"Oh. How are they this year?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Almost as bad as Hufflepuff."  
  
"You better win then. I'd be very disappointed if you didn't. And you wouldn't wanna upset me now. Would you?"  
  
"Of course not. I never wanna upset you."  
  
"Good." ~ The week went by quickly, and soon it was 5 pm Friday evening. Draco, Hermione, Cephius, and Blaise were all in the common room talking. At 6:45 they made their way up to the Astronomy Tower.  
  
Draco and Hermione were on Draco's broom and Cephius and Elana were on Cephius'.  
  
In about an hour and a half, they were sitting in the clearing, waiting for the other Death Eaters to arrive. 


	18. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 18  
  
Voldemort appeared with a POP along with Peter. He placed on of his long, white, sickly fingers on Peter's Dark Mark. Peter winced in pain as it turned a nasty shade of black.  
  
Once again, the Death Eaters were apparating all around them and forming a circle around Voldemort. Draco, Hermione, Cephius, and Elana all took their places in the circle.  
  
When everyone was there, Voldemort began. "The first order of business, how come no Mudblood was killed? You killed no one, not a single person! How moronic can the lot off you be? I also know that some of you didn't show up." Voldemort stared around the circle and there was an eerie silence. "Martin, I know for a fact that you didn't show up." He stared at a young woman with blonde hair and green eyes. Her name was Diana Martin.  
  
"I'm sorry My Lord. I had other matters to take care of. A Mudblood broke into my house. I killed him and by then it was to late to get to Hogwarts," she explained calmly.  
  
"No matter. Crucio!" Voldemort said.  
  
Everyone watched as she began to writhe and curl up. There was a look of obvious pain on her face, but she refused to cry out.  
  
When Voldemort saw this, he released her and commanded her to get up. She did as she was told and stared back at him with an emotionless look planted on her face.  
  
"Now for the rest of you, you will all be receiving the same punishment."  
  
He went around the circle giving everyone the Cruciatus Curse. When he reached Cephius, Elana, Hermione, and Draco, he skipped them and moved on to the next person.  
  
After everyone had experienced the horrible pain from the curse, Voldemort was about to speak again, Goyle said, "How come they weren't punished?"  
  
"It wasn't there job. Crucio!"  
  
Goyle doubled over in pain once again. He looked rather funny actually. His face got all contorted and his hands grabbed onto his stomach that protruded out over his belt.  
  
After a while, Voldemort let him go. "I still want them dead!" Voldemort said in a deathly whisper. "They don't deserve to live. We will kill them on the last day of term before they go back to the train. We will actually go into the school this time. My daughter and her friends will help us get in."  
  
The four of them nodded.  
  
"I will hold another meeting with more details before the end of term. You may go," he dismissed them and they began leaving with POP.  
  
Draco, Hermione, Cephius, and Elana went to their brooms.  
  
As Draco and Hermione were about to take off, Voldemort grabbed them. "I need to talk to you two privately."  
  
"You two go along. We'll catch up with you in a few minutes," Draco told Cephius and Elana.  
  
Cephius nodded and they took off.  
  
After everyone was gone, Voldemort said, "I'm growing old, and I fear I will die before you get married. If this does happen, I expect you two to take my place. I want you to pick up where I leave off. I trust no one else."  
  
"Yes Father," Hermione said. "We will do as you wish."  
  
Voldemort nodded. "You may leave."  
  
Draco and Hermione mounted Draco's broom and took off.  
  
"Draco, we're ending this," Hermione said once they were in the air. "We're putting an end to all this insanity."  
  
"Good, and they don't have any proof that we're Death Eaters anyway. We don't have the Dark Mark."  
  
"I thought you'd be upset," Hermione said. "You want to end this all?"  
  
"Of course I do! I'm not my father. I don't care about power or hate. We need muggles to survive. Wizards cannot survive without them. I don't wanna help those bastards get into the school."  
  
"What if he doesn't die before the school year ends? Do we help him?"  
  
"We have to. No offense or anything, but I hope that he does die before that day. I don't want him to get in and kill everyone. He's not scared of Dumbledore anymore."  
  
"I know, and I don't want him to get in either." She sighed and put her head on his back.  
  
When they landed in the Astronomy Tower, Draco hugged Hermione.  
  
"What's that for?"  
  
"Because you know what you want. You have a strength that I don't have. You are going to do the exact opposite of what your father wants and you have no doubts."  
  
"I don't know why I made you join him again in the first place. I was probably going crazy when I suggested that."  
  
"Think of it this way. If we hadn't gone, no one would know your true identity. What's that?" Draco stopped talking suddenly.  
  
"What's what?"  
  
"That noise. Shh, listen."  
  
Draco was right. They could hear footsteps and giggling on the stairs. All of a sudden Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley were standing there. They stopped giggling when they saw Draco and Hermione.  
  
"30 points from Gryffindor," Draco said without hesitation.  
  
"Aren't we a hypocrite?" Ginny asked. "What the hell are you two doing up here?"  
  
"Gin, if we wanted sex, we could've done it all over our common room, into his bedroom, through the bathroom, and into my bedroom ten times over. We were just doing our nightly rounds," Hermione said.  
  
"Sure you are," Harry sneered. "Then why does the Ferret have a broom with him?"  
  
"We flew around the grounds once. It's not illegal you know," Draco answered.  
  
"At this hour it is."  
  
"Well we weren't outside at this hour. We came in like an hour ago and have been searching for rule-breaking students ever since. I'm not surprised that you're one of them," Hermione stated calmly.  
  
"The two oh-so-NOT-perfect Gryffs," Draco agreed. "Now get back to your common room before I am forced to take away more points. And I have absolutely no problem in doing that." Draco smirked at them.  
  
Harry and Ginny turned to leave. They were very pissed off.  
  
"What a bunch of assholes," Hermione muttered.  
  
"Yeah. Come on, let's get back to the common room before we run into teachers." Draco grabbed Hermione's hand and led her back down to the common room.  
  
When they got to the common room, Draco started kissing Hermione. He broke away from her lips and started kissing her neck.  
  
"Draco, we should really get to bed. You have a game tomorrow," Hermione said breathing deeply.  
  
"I know, but I'm not tired and neither are you," Draco answered.  
  
"But you're gunna need your strength tomorrow. I want you to win."  
  
"I will win, don't worry about it." He was still kissing her all over and she finally just gave in.  
  
"Fine, Draco."  
  
She pulled his head back up to hers so she could kiss him. ~ The next morning, Draco woke up in a very uncomfortable position. He was on the couch and Hermione was lying on top of him. They were all tangled together.  
  
"'Mione?" he whispered.  
  
"Mmm," she answered.  
  
"We gotta get up. I have to shower 'cause I have my game in like three hours."  
  
It was 9, his game started at 12.  
  
She shifted her weight so he could get up, then she fell back asleep.  
  
Draco got up carefully and went to his room. He pulled out his Quidditch robes and went into the bathroom. After he showered and got dressed, he went downstairs to find Hermione still sleeping on the couch.  
  
"'Mione, 'Mione," he whispered in her ear. She still didn't get up. "You know what, fine, I'm going to the game without you. And then we'll lose because I won't have my good luck charm, and then you'll feel all guilty, and then I'm gunna get mad and dump you for Pansy Park-"  
  
"What the hell? I don't get up right away and you're talking about dumping me for that slut!" she screamed.  
  
Draco was laughing. "Chill, I was joking. I'm sorry, but you sleep like a log and I really wanted you to get up."  
  
Hermione laughed a little too. "Yeah, I overreacted a little. But still, you have a sick sense of humor."  
  
"I know. Come on. Get up. You have to come to the game. I'll lose without you. I need you." He started pulling her up off the couch.  
  
"Alright, alright. You make me feel so damn guilty."  
  
Draco put on a smile that would make someone who didn't know him think that he was an angel. "Who me? I would never do such a thing. You must be accusing the wrong person."  
  
"Right, that must be it. I tagged the wrong guy. Damn! For a second there I almost thought you were my fiancée, but I guess I was mistaken. He would never smile like that." Hermione smirked as she walked up the stairs to take her shower.  
  
Hermione came down twenty minutes later. "You know, Draco, we missed breakfast. How do you plan on playing on an empty stomach?"  
  
"Let's go down to the kitchens. I'm sure the house elves will give us something. They never turn anyone down," Draco answered.  
  
"Good point. Come on."  
  
They walked very quickly to the kitchens. The house elves greeted the warmly, as usual.  
  
"We missed breakfast," Hermione stated simply.  
  
"Oh, no need to worry. We is getting you donuts and cappuccino," one of them said.  
  
"Thank you," Hermione and Draco said when they got their food.  
  
They ate quickly and were done by 10:30.  
  
"Wanna go out early?" Hermione asked. "You can look at the field conditions and tell your team what they need to know."  
  
"Yup. I was planning on doing that anyway."  
  
Draco and Hermione went back up to the common room so Draco could get his broom, and then they headed out to the Quidditch field.  
  
It was cold out, and there was a strong wind. The ground was soft because of all the snow. "We're not gunna get a real good kick-off," Draco commented. "And we'll probably get thrown off course. It's gunna be hard for the chasers to throw the quaffle straight. I know we're gunna win though."  
  
Hermione smiled. "You better." 


	19. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 19  
  
The two teams came out onto the field. Draco shook hands with the Ravenclaw captain. On the whistle, fourteen players shot up into the air. Draco couldn't help but smile as he noticed that the other seeker was still riding a Nimbus 2000.  
  
"This will be no challenge," he thought as he began darting around searching for the snitch. The other seeker was desperately trying to tail him, but was failing miserably.  
  
Five minutes later, the score was 30-10 Slytherin. Draco saw the snitch by the Slytherin stands and the Ravenclaw seeker already heading toward it. Draco went into a dive and had soon caught up with and passed him.  
  
The whole crowd was shocked at how fast Draco was moving. No one except the Slytherins knew that he had the newest broom. Within seconds, Draco had the snitch clutched tightly in his hand. As soon as he landed, Hermione was there to greet him with a hug and a quick kiss.  
  
"Told you I wouldn't lose," he whispered in her ear.  
  
"I knew you wouldn't. I just wanted to be positive that you would," she answered.  
  
One of the Slytherin chasers yelled, "PARTY! COMMON ROOM! NOW!"  
  
All the Slytherins cheered and headed quickly back to the castle. Draco and Hermione went up quickly to their common room to put on muggle clothes, and then headed down to the dungeons.  
  
When they finally arrived, they were greeted with cheers and hugs. Well Draco was at least, but Hermione didn't mind. Pansy walked up to him and whispered, "I'll be waiting for you in my dorm."  
  
Draco rolled his eyes, and once Pansy was up the stairs he yelled, "Crabbe, Pansy wants you in her room!" He watched Crabbe jump up and run up the stairs faster than he had ever moved.  
  
"What was that all about?" Hermione asked Draco.  
  
"Pansy wanted me to go upstairs to her room, so I sent her the next best thing." He smirked.  
  
Hermione laughed as they headed toward Elana, Cephius, Blaise, and Jeremiah (Blaise's new boyfriend). They started talking about the game. They laughed at the other seeker's face when Draco passed him, it was very funny.  
  
Ten minutes later, Jake, a sixth year, who was notorious for getting drunk came in with cases and cases of beer.  
  
"Fizz Wizz for everyone!" he called out.  
  
Everyone got up and crowded around him so they could get a can. There was a can for everybody and tons of extras were left over. Draco and Hermione only had one can each, but other people had two and three and were running around like morons and some blacked out.  
  
"Does Snape ever come in here and break up parties?" Hermione asked nervously.  
  
"No. He knows what goes on, but doesn't really care. As long as nobody else finds out, we're fine," Draco answered. "And no one ever finds out."  
  
"Where'd Cephius, Elana, Blaise, and Jeremiah go?"  
  
"If I had a guess, they went upstairs. Probably doing, well you know what they're probably doing." Draco smirked once again.  
  
"Yes I do. They're doing something that we're not gunna think about doing until we get out of school."  
  
Draco nodded. "I know that. And I would never make you do something that you're not ready for. I respect your decision."  
  
Hermione rested her head on Draco's shoulder. "What time is it?"  
  
"Eight. Why?"  
  
"We missed dinner," she stated.  
  
"But we had a load of junk and candy, so I'm not really hungry."  
  
"You wanna go back to the common room?" Hermione asked. "This place is starting to give me a headache. I can't even think."  
  
"Alright, let's get out of here."  
  
Draco and Hermione went back to their common room. Hermione had a fever, and she felt really sick.  
  
"Want me to take you down to Madame Pomfrey?" Draco asked.  
  
"No! She'll figure out that we've been drinking, and she'll think that I'm drunk even though I'm not. I should just lie down. I'll be fine tomorrow."  
  
Draco took her up to his room and laid her down on his bed. She fell asleep quickly. He sat down on a chair and started to read.  
  
"Draco!" Hermione shot up after a half hour.  
  
"What is it?" he asked putting his book down and sitting down next to her on the bed.  
  
"I got scared. I had a nightmare, and since you've been sleeping with me, I haven't had any."  
  
"Hermione, shh, it's okay. I was just reading. I can't sleep yet, it's too early for me to go to bed."  
  
Hermione was shaking madly in his arms. "I'm sorry. I just thought something terrible happened to you."  
  
"What was your dream about?" he asked calmly stroking her cheek.  
  
"I dreamt that my father took you away from me and locked me in a room without my wand. When you came back, you were all bloody and beaten, and you could hardly walk. You said, 'I love you 'Mione' and then you fell and died." Silent tears were rolling down her cheeks.  
  
"'Mione, it was just a dream. I will never let anyone take me away from you."  
  
He held her in his arms for what seemed like hours. Eventually she fell asleep, and realizing this, Draco did too. ~ The weeks passed quickly, and soon it was the day before Valentine's Day. Draco received an owl from Lucius. It said:  
  
Draco and Hermione, Tomorrow after that dance, I will be taking You to the Dark Lord's palace. He wishes To talk to you both about "family matter" As he puts it. I will be there at midnight. Make sure that you are alone in your common Room. Tell absolutely no one about this. It Is one secret that must even be kept from your Other Death Eater friends. Remember to be In your common room at the stroke of midnight.  
  
Lucius  
  
Hermione looked worried. "What if that dream that I had a few weeks ago is a premonition?" she asked.  
  
"I'm sure it wasn't. It's probably just coincidence. Everything will be perfectly fine. Ol' Voldie wouldn't kill me anyway. He wants his heir, doesn't he? And who else in this world is as smart and handsome and adorable and loving and as great a person as me?" he said grinning. ~ The next evening, Draco and Hermione were getting ready for the dance. Since they were so incredibly in love, they decided to show their support for this oh so wonderful holiday and wore black.  
  
"Well everyone will be able to find us." Hermione smirked as they were heading toward the Great Hall.  
  
"That's what I'm planning for. Everyone's gunna be so happy, and then they'll see us and probably say some stupid shit about the way we're dressed. And then I'll do what I'm best at." Draco smirked at Hermione and went on. "I'll tell them off in the rudest way I can think of."  
  
Just before they walked into the Great Hall, Hermione pulled Draco to the side and kissed him.  
  
"Ready?" she asked when they came apart.  
  
"I was born ready," he answered.  
  
They walked into the disgustingly decorated Great Hall. It had little Cupids and red hearts all over the walls. They tables and chairs were all pink and red. The teachers were even wearing all sorts of red, pink, and purple dress robes. Everyone seemed to love this holiday.  
  
"This holiday is way overrated," Draco muttered as he swept Hermione onto the dance floor.  
  
"It really is. People are all cheery and lovey-dovey, it makes me sick."  
  
"Hermione, we probably make people sick everyday with our incredible public display of affection."  
  
"Probably, but that's their problem. At least we don't need a special day to show each other how we really feel."  
  
"Aren't we feeling a bit hypocritical today?" Draco smirked down at her.  
  
"Maybe," Hermione answered.  
  
"Black, Granger?" came Ron's voice. "How can you wear black on a day like today? Are you fucked up or something?"  
  
"Maroon, Weasel? How can you wear the same women's robes to every dance?" Draco retaliated.  
  
"These are not women's robes," Ron said. He was infuriated.  
  
"Oh, gee, sorry I forgot. You're too pour to buy any good quality robes, so you just have to get the cheapest in the shop."  
  
"Shut up Malfoy or I'll-"  
  
"Good evening Professor Snape. How lovely it is to see you," Hermione said brightly.  
  
Ron quickly walked to the other side of the room to meet up with Harry, Ginny, and Lavender.  
  
"Professor Snape isn't there, is he," Draco said. It was more of a comment than a question.  
  
"Nope, but I didn't want my ex-best friend to get all bloodied up. Plus, I don't want any of his pathetic blood on my robes."  
  
Draco smiled as they continued dancing. People commented on their choice of clothing all night, but they didn't mind. They didn't leave the dance floor until a quarter to twelve when they headed back up to their common room.  
  
Just as he stated in the letter, Lucius appeared at the window at the stroke of midnight. "Get your broom," he commanded Draco.  
  
Draco did as he was told, and the three headed out on their journey to Voldemort's palace.  
  
Draco followed Lucius. It was dawn before they had seen anything that even resembled a palace. They soon landed in front of the door. Draco grabbed Hermione's hand and they followed Lucius to a bedroom.  
  
"Get your rest. We'll wake you up when he is ready for you," Lucius informed them.  
  
Draco nodded and watched his father retreat.  
  
"Draco, this is the room in my dream," Hermione whispered.  
  
"Hermione, don't worry about it. He's not gunna kill me. I promise. Let's just get some sleep." He took off his robe and threw it over a chair. Hermione did the same and climbed into the bed next to him. Draco held her very close to him. Even though he didn't act it, he was kind of getting freaked out. As tired as he was, he couldn't get to sleep. All he could do was watch Hermione sleeping peacefully in his arms. ~ A few hours later, Lucius came in. "He wishes to see you, Draco."  
  
"What about Hermione? I don't wanna just leave her here," he answered.  
  
"He said he wanted you only. Leave her. She'll still be asleep when you return. Don't worry about it."  
  
Draco got up and put his robes back over his clothes. He kissed Hermione's forehead softly then followed Lucius out. They walked up and down staircases and halls for what seemed like forever.  
  
"What does he want with me?" Draco asked.  
  
"Only to make sure that you are fit for his daughter."  
  
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"  
  
"How the fuck should I know? I'm under strict orders to bring you to him."  
  
"I don't really care what he wants. I hate leaving Hermione like this. She doesn't sleep well and she's gunna freak out when she wakes up and sees that I'm not there."  
  
"Don't worry about it," Lucius said again.  
  
"How can you say that? I love her and I hate seeing her distraught. She means the world to me and I don't want her to get hurt."  
  
Lucius didn't answer; he just opened a door and threw Draco inside. "Don't disappoint me," he whispered harshly as he slammed the door shut.  
  
"You look tired, Draco," Voldemort commented.  
  
"I didn't sleep. I was worried about Hermione," Draco said.  
  
"And why's that?" Voldemort asked.  
  
"Because I love her, number one and I have every right to be worried. And also because she had a dream that we came here and I was murdered."  
  
"Well I don't think that you are going to die today. I'm just simply making sure that you know what to do when I die. I will be the one who dies this weekend. I can feel it. I'm old and I'm weak. Support for me is growing thin. You must carry out my legacy along with Hermione and the child. What I told your father about seeing if you were right for my daughter, that was just bullshit. I know that you love her and will be the perfect husband. Do you know what you will be doing when you take my place?"  
  
"Yes my Lord."  
  
"And what is that?"  
  
"I will kill every mudblood and mudblood-lover. They are all filth and don't deserve to live," Draco answered.  
  
"That's right. However, you will have the Death Eaters killed them, you will just guide them in the right direction, and if you feel the need, you can kill. You and Hermione must stay out of sight. You cannot let a soul know that you are the ones that have taken my place. You may go now."  
  
"Yes my Lord." Draco bowed deeply and left the room. Instead of walking down to his room, Draco apparated. Hermione was pacing around, talking to herself, and she looked a mess.  
  
"Draco!" she screamed throwing her arms around him. "Oh my God you don't know how worried I was. Why'd you leave? Why'd you do that? You could've at least woken me up!"  
  
"'Mione, I'm sorry. I didn't wanna leave you. My father made me. He told me not to wake you. I didn't wanna leave you, I knew you would freak out." Draco held her close to him. "I love you, Hermione," he whispered.  
  
"I love you too."  
  
After a while of just sitting and holding each other, Hermione said, "So what do we do? Do we just wait here for them to tell us when we can leave?"  
  
"I guess. When do we eat though? I'm so hungry."  
  
Right then, Lucius walked in. "Follow me. We're gunna have lunch."  
  
Hermione and Draco wore their muggle clothes; they had decided to leave their robes in the room.  
  
"Father, when do we get to go back?" asked Draco. "People are gunna get worried when we don't turn up for meals or anything."  
  
"Don't worry about it. They'll spread rumors, but those will eventually die down."  
  
"We'd have to eat sometime. And people just don't go at it for two days straight. That is horribly wrong and disgusting."  
  
"Whatever floats your boat."  
  
Hermione had to stifle a laugh and ended up coughing a few times instead. Draco looked down and smiled. She smiled back and mouthed the word, "Sorry."  
  
He just shrugged as if to say, "Don't worry about it." Then he looked at his father's back and rolled his eyes at him.  
  
After a while, they ended up in a large dining room much like the one in the Malfoy Manor. Voldemort was at the head of the table and Lucius sat down next to him. Draco and Hermione sat down next to each other a little farther along.  
  
The food appeared on the table, and Lucius, Draco, and Hermione began eating, but Voldemort touched nothing. After a while, he spoke. "This is the last time you will ever see me alive. I am going to my room to die alone, just like I lived alone. Good bye." With that, he disapparated back to his room. 


	20. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 20  
  
"What was that?" Hermione asked Draco.  
  
"He said he's gunna die this weekend, and by that he meant now, I guess," Draco answered.  
  
"Should we go up there?"  
  
"Do you want to?"  
  
"Um, yeah, I guess. We should at least have a funeral or something. He was my father. He wasn't the best father, hell he wasn't even close to decent, but he was my father none-the-less, and I should at least give him a funeral," Hermione said.  
  
"Fine, let's go." Draco took Hermione's hand and led her out of the room.  
  
"Where are you going?" Lucius asked. He was too far down the table to hear their conversation.  
  
"We're going to see my father," Hermione answered. "I owe him that much."  
  
They continued walking until Draco came to the room where he had been before. Sitting there in a chair, with an evil grin spread across his face, was the lifeless body of the man so many wizards and witches had feared their whole lives. His legacy was now over and passed onto his daughter and soon-to-be daughter-in-law.  
  
Draco levitated him downstairs and called on some house elves to prepare him for the funeral. They did as they were told. Voldemort was buried that day behind the palace. It wasn't a proper funeral, but it was still a funeral.  
  
"Are we permitted to return now?" Draco asked Lucius.  
  
"Yes, but you may want to apparate to the clearing behind the forest first. It'll be a shorter ride, and easier for you."  
  
Hermione looked worried. "Don't worry," Draco reassured her. "I can apparate the both of us together. Just take my hand and don't let go."  
  
Hermione did as she was instructed. They were at the clearing behind the forest in less than a second.  
  
Soon they were up in the air, and Draco asked, "How do you plan on ending this all? The Death Eaters aren't going to give up that easily."  
  
"We're gunna call a meeting, and we're to use the strongest memory charm possible. I'm hoping that Cephius and Elana will help us out; it will be much quicker and much easier. We have to owl your father right away, and tell him to have the Death Eaters to meet us at the same spot next Saturday night. We will set up either two tents or four tents (depending on Cephius and Elana), and we're gunna say that we're doing an evaluation of some sort. We will divide them among us so that it will take less time. They'll walk in, and then we'll hit them with the charm. We will then take them to a separate tent because more than likely they'll be screwed up. After they're all taken care of, we'll send them home with a note to their families," Hermione explained as if it were nothing.  
  
"Wow, you've got this all planned our."  
  
"Yup. It's been that way since he told us that he thought he was gunna die."  
  
"I'll carry through with that plan. We gotta talk to Cephius and Elana right away."  
  
As soon as they got back to Hogwarts, Hermione went up to their common room so Draco could put his broom away, and then they headed to the dungeons. When they got there, Cephius and Elana were making out in a corner.  
  
Draco walked up to them, and they didn't even acknowledge his presence until he yelled really loud, "BREATHE!"  
  
They jumped about a mile, and saw Draco smirking and Hermione laughing her head off. "What?" they asked together.  
  
"We need to talk to you back in our common room," Draco whispered. "It's about.you know."  
  
"We're coming," Cephius answered pulling Elana with him.  
  
They walked in silence all the way up to the common room. Once they were inside, Hermione began speaking. "I'm guessing that you didn't see us at all this weekend. We were not here. Actually, we were taken to my father's palace. He died this weekend and wants me to take over where he left off. Draco and I decided that we are going to end everything. We're gunna need your help. Do you wanna help us, or would you choose to carry on this insanity?"  
  
Elana and Cephius looked at each other. It was like they were speaking to each other through their eyes. After a few minutes, they turned back to Draco and Hermione. "We'll help you," they said together.  
  
"Good," said Draco. "We're going to use a very powerful memory charm on all of the Death Eaters. We'll be setting up four tents and say we'll be doing an evaluation to see if they are really qualified. When they walk into the tent, we'll hit them with the charm and then lead them out to another tent. After they've all been hit, we'll send them home with a note to their families."  
  
Cephius and Elana nodded. "So when are we doing all this?" Elana asked.  
  
"I'll owl my father and tell him to have all the Death Eaters meet at the clearing behind the forest on Saturday. I think that should give us enough time to figure out what we're doing."  
  
"Will someone eventually find out what's going on? The people have a right to know that they don't have to fear him anymore," Cephius answered.  
  
"Well I figured after the meeting, I'd write an anonymous letter to the Daily Prophet explaining that I had witnessed everything," Hermione explained. "I won't say how, when or where I witnessed it."  
  
They all sat in silence for a while before Cephius spoke. "You know, there are rumors going around about why you haven't been seen all weekend. People are saying some really horrible things about you two. They're all like, 'The Head Boy and Girl, some example they're setting.' If I didn't know you guys, I would've believed the rumors to be true."  
  
"People are assholes. They don't know anything. I'm actually surprised that people pay attention to what we do and realized that we were missing," Hermione laughed.  
  
"You sure take things lightly, 'Mione," Elana said. "If it was me, I'd be pissed."  
  
"Why should I be? I know what happened even if they don't. Nothing they say can affect me in any way. They don't even know a quarter of what's going on in my life." ~ The next day, Draco and Hermione were getting weird all through breakfast, and heard a few people saying, "Look at them, talking and laughing like nothing even happened. They're not even slightly embarrassed about anything. And they'd probably deny them if we asked them about it."  
  
Throughout the day, Draco and Hermione were able to ignore the rude comments from most of the student population. When they got to Transfigurations, they sat in the back corner where they usually sat. The Gryffindors walked in and shot them death glares.  
  
"Hey, Malfoy, you and Granger have a good time this weekend?" Ron asked.  
  
"Actually, the weekend sucked," Draco smirked. "If it had been up to me, Hermione and I would've done other stuff."  
  
"Oh so this a female dominated relationship?" Harry said.  
  
"No one is dominant, Potter," Hermione sneered. "We talk about things and then we compromise." She was smirking now too.  
  
"So you talked before you did anything this weekend?" Ron inquired.  
  
"We didn't have a choice in the matter this weekend," Draco answered. "We were forced to do what we did."  
  
"Who the hell would force you to sleep together?"  
  
"We made that decision ages ago. We've been sleeping together since Christmas." Draco's smirk was plastered on his face.  
  
"You've been screwing sine Christmas," Harry yelled.  
  
"Calm down, Potter," Hermione said. "We've never done anything like that. I sleep in his bed because that's where I feel safe at night. We've never 'screwed' each other as you put it."  
  
Everyone in the room was in total shock and a murmur could be heard around the room. It didn't last very long, though, because McGonagall came in and began the lesson.  
  
Draco and Hermione were taking notes on everything McGonagall was saying. Draco became bored very quickly, and when her back was turned, he leaned closer to Hermione and wrote, "Bitch" with an arrow pointing at McGonagall. Hermione gave him a smile and reached over to his paper and wrote, "Assholes" and drew two arrows pointing at Harry and Ron.  
  
This went on for a few minutes before McGonagall heard giggles coming from their corner and called out, "Mr. Malfoy, Ms Granger, would you mind telling me what is so funny that you had to disturb my class?"  
  
"Sorry, Professor," mumbled Hermione. "It's just that, we couldn't help but notice how incredibly adorable Weasley and Brown look together. I mean, look at how close they're sitting." This gained snickers from the Slytherin portion of the room and death glares from the Gryffindors.  
  
"Mr. Malfoy, Ms Granger, that's ten points from Slytherin and a detention tonight. You will not put down fellow students. You of all people should know that."  
  
"I beg your pardon, Professor," Draco said. "But you weren't in here before class started. Your precious Gryffindors were implying that Hermione and I were doing something that is immoral, and a very dangerous thing to do as Head Boy and Head Girl." The Slytherins muttered agreements.  
  
"Well, I heard nothing such as that," she answered sternly. "You will meet me after class to discuss your detention." With that she went back to the lesson.  
  
"Hypocrite," Draco mumbled.  
  
When the bell rang and the class filed out, Hermione and Draco walked up to Professor McGonagall's desk. Draco put on an innocent smile and said, "You wished to see us, Professor."  
  
"Yes. You will be serving your detention tonight at 8 pm. You will clean the entire trophy room without magic. It hasn't been done in a few years. You may leave."  
  
"Yes, ma'am," they answered.  
  
"I expect better of you in the future. With the titles you hold, you should have a bit more respect."  
  
They didn't respond, just walked out of the room. "Told you she was a bitch," Draco mumbled under his breath. Hermione just smiled. ~ Their detention wasn't so bad. It only took them two hours to finish, and they didn't really mind. They had each other's company." ~ The rest of the week went by quickly with no problems. It was 5 pm Saturday evening and Cephius, Elana, Hermione, and Draco were heading out towards the clearing.  
  
As soon as they got there, they set up the five tents. The four that Draco, Hermione, Elana, and Cephius were going to be using were set up next to each other, and the other was farther behind them.  
  
At eight, the Death Eaters started to arrive and make a circle as they normally would, but they were all very confused. When everyone was there, Draco began speaking. "Last weekend, Lord Voldemort died. He asked Hermione and myself to carry on his legacy. If anyone of you dares to overrun our authority, you will die a slow and painful death." He paused to let his last sentence sink in. "Now, Hermione, Cephius, Elana, and I will conduct a test to make sure that you are faithful followers and that your loyalty will not waver."  
  
"We have come up with a quick and easy way to do this," Hermione informed them. "Each of us has a list with some names on them. You will go into the tent of the person that calls you. Any questions?" There was no response. "Diana Martin, come with me."  
  
"Lucius Malfoy," Draco called.  
  
"Crabbe," Cephius said.  
  
""Nott," Elana motioned for him to follow.  
  
Draco made Lucius sit in a chair. "What's this all about, Draco?"  
  
"Obliviate!"  
  
When Draco said the charm, Lucius' eyes glazed over and a huge grin spread across his face. "Ooh, look at the pretty sky." He was looking at the floor of the tent.  
  
Draco did all he could to hold back a laugh. "Follow me," Draco commanded him.  
  
"Where are we going?" he asked.  
  
"We're going to another tent. You will get to play with all of your friends there. Won't that be fun? Come on, let's go."  
  
Lucius followed Draco to the other tent. He looked very calm; Draco had never seen him like that before. Just then Cephius, Elana, and Hermione came out with their "patients."  
  
"They look so happy," Elana commented.  
  
"Yeah they do," agreed Hermione. "I wonder why no one thought of this before."  
  
They walked back to their tents to "fix" the next four Death Eaters. It took about an hour to give every Death Eater the memory charm and put them all in the tent. They were all grinning like they had just been given loads of candy.  
  
Although they had lost most of their memory, they still knew how to apparate back to their houses. Before they left, they had all been given a letter to explain to their families what had happened. Draco, Hermione, Cephius, and Elana waited until every one of them had left before they returned to the castle. 


	21. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 21  
  
June approached quickly. Word was out that Voldemort had died, and people were no longer in fear. After all their finals, it was finally graduation. At the dance afterwards, Harry and Ron walked up to Draco and Hermione.  
  
"Malfoy, Hermione?" Harry said. "Can we talk to you guys for a minute?"  
  
Hermione nodded and followed the boys outside. "What do you want?" she asked.  
  
"We miss you," Ron explained. "We're very sorry for all the shit we've put you through this year, and we're sorry that we didn't trust the two of you."  
  
"Hermione, we don't care if you never speak to us again, but you have to know that we still love you as our best friend in the world," Harry finished.  
  
Hermione hugged them both. "I've missed you guys too. So does this mean you accept the fact that I love Draco and I'm marrying him next month?"  
  
They nodded. "If he makes you happy," Ron said. "And it's obvious that he does."  
  
"He does," she whispered.  
  
"Draco, I'm sorry for everything," said Harry. They shook hands, and then Draco shook hands with Ron.  
  
"I'm the one who's sorry. I have put you two through so much shit over the past seven years," Draco said.  
  
"Don't worry about it," Harry and Ron muttered. "It's all good."  
  
They all walked together back into the Great Hall and partied for the rest of the night. ~ Draco and Hermione were married a few weeks later. Blaise and Elana were Hermione's maids of honor, and Cephius was Draco's best man. There weren't many guests, just Lucius, Narcissa, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and some other close friends. Their reception lasted for most of the night, and in the morning they left for Hawaii. ~ Two years later, they had a son and named him after Draco. He had blonde hair and brown eyes. Like both of his parents, he went to Hogwarts and became one of the most troublesome Slytherins the school had ever seen.  
  
Draco and Hermione lived long lives and died happily in each other's arms.  
  
The End!! It has finally finished! I want to thank everyone who reviewed. I still don't know how you all liked it so much, it was kind of a shock to my system. Anyway if you want to read some more from me, read my newest fic, LoveHa! 


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